


Cup of Love

by Grymmeoir



Category: South Park
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-02-06 13:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 35,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12818211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grymmeoir/pseuds/Grymmeoir
Summary: Craig gets a job managing a coffee shop together with his friends, everything is all peaceful and cool that is until he hires a certain twitchy blonde as a new barista. Creek COFFEE SHOP AU





	1. Chapter 1: Unemployment

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello this a cross-post of an ongoing fanfic that I was working on in ff.net, I wanted to try posting a multi-chaptered fanfic here since I have been mostly just posting one-shots.
> 
> The other pairings included in this story are: Style, Bunny and some Tyde. In my opinion, the story isn't that interesting until Chapter 4, but I hope you nonetheless enjoy reading the first three chapters.

It was around five thirty in the morning when a rather unpleasant ringing echoed through Craig's room, Obviously annoyed by the disturbance of his sleep or rather the lack thereof, Craig sluggishly sat up and angrily gave his cellphone the middle finger then proceeded to get off of his bed to answer the call.

"What the fuck do you want?" Craig said, now normally a sane person wouldn't dare answer to a phone call like so, But Craig doesn't give a fuck, anyone who decides to call him at early morning deserves to be treated like shit, especially since he hasn't even had any proper sleep yet.

"Hey dude, it's Token…I found you a job, I can't tell you the details now but I wanted to clarify If you're interested, oh and would it kill you to answer more pleasantly for once?"

Craig lazily blinked his eyes, taking a moment to process what his friend had just said. "That depends…What kind of job is it?" Craig answered, his voice sounding groggy.

"Some sort of Manager, but like I said I can't tell you any details now, but it sounds fancy doesn't it? Anyway meet me up at my house at ten if you're interested, Clyde's coming along too...alright bye."

And just like that the phone call ended, Craig angrily flipped of his phone again, it was meant to be for Token but obviously he couldn't see it, Craig just sighed then continued to sleep.

Craig Tucker, age 18 is a bit of a cynical, apathetic and pragmatic young man who sometimes has a tendency to flip others off…no wait screw that, Craig Tucker IS a cynical, apathetic and pragmatic young man who ALMOST ALWAYS has a tendency to flip others off. He's overall attitude makes it hard for him to find a job since nobody would of course want to hire someone who doesn't give a shit and has the tendency to flip the bird as a habit.

But luckily for him Craig has a rich best friend who cares for him so much that he actually made an effort to find Craig a job. Token Black also age 18 is the smarter and richer of Craig's best friends. He's nice enough to help people out when in need and acts like a deus ex machina for both Craig and Clyde when they are facing some sort of problem they can't solve, but then again Token helping does have its downsides; As after helping, Token has to rub it in their faces that the two of them are pretty much useless without him which makes him kind of a dick but regardless the three were the best of friends.

Craig's other best friend Clyde Donovan again also age 18, is the dumber and chubbier friend, well he's not really that dumb but he is extremely gullible, and he's not really that fat either but since he's the chubbiest of the three he was dubbed the fattest of the group, He's a wannabe Casanova but he's had like only one real relationship in his whole life and that was with BeBe during 3rd grade and it only lasted for a month. The rest of the girls he dated were just using him for shoes since his father owns a shoe store, but still Clyde thought that he's one hell of a heartrob to date all those chicks…even if they were still using him. Despite being a horrible judge of character Clyde is a fun, cool guy and Craig actually enjoys hanging out with him.

Continuing on, Craig eventually got up, took a long hot shower and prepared to meet his friend, because even if he wanted it or not he had to find a job, He still had to save up for college since that shit was expensive as fuck and especially since he wanted to take up Film Making, His parents were forcing him to get a job this summer break in order to help with the upcoming college bills.

It was about nine-forty five when Craig arrived at Dark Meadows, Token's House to be exact. Craig sighed, he really didn't want to go, he wasn't interested in managing anything…but he needs the job so fuck it.

Token opened the door for Craig and told him to sit down at any of his fancy sofas, Surprisingly Kenny and Stan were also there but Clyde was nowhere to be found.

"You're surprisingly early, not as early as them though." Token grinned while pointing towards Kenny and Stan.

"Why are they here anyway? I thought only Clyde was coming." Craig asked, giving the two other boys an acknowledging nod.

"You and Clyde aren't the only one who's in need of a job Craig, and besides I need a lot of people for this." Token responded, his face looking smug.

At the mention of this Craig flipped Token off, as a force of habit; then looked at Kenny then Stan then back to Token.

"If you need a lot of people then why are we the only ones here?"

"Those two are the only ones who were interested…I was hoping there were more but sadly there isn't." Token answered.

Craig shrugged and sat at one of the sofas, he didn't really care anymore just as long as he got a job and his parents stop bitching about him being unemployed.

At around ten-thirty, Clyde finally arrived, he sure took his sweet time considering the agreed meeting time was thirty minutes ago, But now that they're all complete Token can finally discuss the details of the so called job.

"Alright so here's the deal…You're all going to be baristas for Harbucks, It's not too bad you just get to make and serve coffee and that's pretty much it."

"Coffee?" Stan asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yeah, what do you think?"

"Well that doesn't sound too hard to be honest..." Clyde said, surprisingly happy about the thought, It was weird because he usually complains about anything work related.

"It's all cool on my side, I heard that chicks dig Baristas." Kenny said smiling mischievously.

"I am okay with it too…it doesn't sound bad." Stan said, apparently he has the same case as Craig; his parents are forcing him to find a job because of high college costs. The reason Kenny needs a job is because he's poor, no explanation needed there actually.

"A barista? The fuck I thought you said I was going to be some sort of manager?" Craig hated being lied to, of course he knew he needed the job and he'll take anything just to get his parents to shut up but for Token to stoop so low that he actually lied to him, that's just wrong.

"Calm down Craig, let me finish talking, I am not lying about that manager part." Token assured.

"So does that mean we get to be managers? But I thought we were baristas?" Clyde said with a confused look on his face, for once his question was something that a person with an average IQ would ask.

"Shhhhh…let me finish" Token shushed Clyde, pressing his index finger to the excited guy's lips."

"Earlier this month my father bought a Harbucks franchise…The South Park branch to be exact, apparently the former owner went bankrupt so my dad took pity and decide to buy it, the renovations and stuff had been recently finished but since he's pretty busy with some other things he decided to give the franchise to me and let me manage it so that I can somehow learn the basics of managing, but I don't want to because fuck that shit so he gave me the task of finding a manager and employees instead."

"And that's where you come in Craig! You get to be the Manager of Harbucks instead of me, and these three here get to be baristas, So I don't get to do shit, and you all get the jobs you need…it's a win-win situation!" Token said smiling unaware of the angry glare Clyde has been giving him.

"You basically just pushed your work on all of us…but who am I to complain anyway, I need the money." Stan spoke in a monotone, then shrugged.

"Glad to hear." Token smiled smugly, whilst patting Stan on the back.

"Hey why the hell does Craig get to be the manager? I can do a better job than him!" Clyde angrily spouted.

"Because I can trust him to not to eat all the pastries, fatso." Token grinned with mockery in his voice.

"I am not that fat!"

"I kind of agree isn't that kind of biased? I am grateful that you prefer me over them but…oh wait screw that, it just means that you finally noticed how amazing I am compared to everyone." Craig spoke up.

"And since when did Craig Tucker ever felt grateful? Besides the real reason I made you manager is because I don't trust you to make or serve coffee you'll probably try to poison the customers you don't like, and you might scare them away…that's bad for the business, at least when you're the manager you can just hide your ugly mug in some room and be an asshole from there."

"Fuck you." Craig said while again flipping him off.

"Do you want the job or not?" Token said grinning he was really amused at the idea of his friends managing a coffee shop and he knew that Craig would do it whether he likes it or not.

"Alright fine I'm in…" Craig said defeatedly.

"What about you three, Are you ready to be Baristas?" Token turned around and face the others.

"I already told you that I am okay with it earlier didn't I? Any job that earns me enough money is good enough for me." Kenny smiled.

"Yeah I don't really care what job it is dude, well just as long as it doesn't involve anything nasty." Stan agreed.

Clyde on the other hand was looking rather grumpy…he doesn't seem to like the thought that Token had chosen Craig over him.

"Oh come on man! You know I can't allow Craig to be a barista he'll scare the customers!" Token said whilst wrapping an arm around Clyde's shoulders.

"Get the fuck off me Token I am not gonna do it, and besides you called me a fatso." Clyde pouted, whilst crossing his arms in an angry fashion.

"Alright alright I am sorry Clyde…but still you should do it, you said you needed money right? And I need employees so doing this is the best case scenario for the both of us." Token soothed.

"Nope, no way"

"Okay fine, you get to eat the leftover pastries for free at the end of the day." Token said in a rather annoyed voice.

Clyde went silent for a while, closing his eyes as if in deep thought. It went like this for ten seconds until…

"Fuck It, I'll do it! I get free food and money just by serving coffee…sweet!" Clyde shouted. Token smiled at his reaction.

"Alright it's settled then, next week you guys will start barista training, come in at Harbucks at exactly six o clock, no delays and that means you Clyde, Craig you're also included albeit for managerial training… "

"Sure." Craig shrugged then flipped Token off, this time not because of annoyance but because of habit, Token just smiled at him then to the others.

"Coffee huh?" Craig thought, He wasn't a huge fan of the bitter drink but little did he know that soon his opinion towards it will change and he'll find it to be the sweetest most addicting taste ever.


	2. Chapter 2: Bankruptcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tweek starts his search for coffee and a job.

For the third time this month Tweek Tweak was once again fired from his job, it's not like he wanted to lose it but the poor guy was just too Jittery and paranoid all the time that it makes it hard for him to focus on his work.

Also the fact that he twitches every few seconds and his constant mumbles of "Nngghs" and "Gahs" kind of annoyed most of his employers, fellow employees and some of the customers.

And so poor Tweek was once again unemployed…at least they let him go gently this time, His last job as a waiter at Bennigan's didn't go too well, he was fired just as he had started working due to him spazzing out from overload of taking orders, Tweek was more or less devastated but that didn't stop him from getting a new job as a pizza delivery guy even if it was too much of a pressure for him, but then again he was fired from that too.

Tweek Tweak, age 18 is a spazzy, paranoid and highly anxious boy who has a very impressive penchant for drinking coffee; he is currently being forced to find work (it's either that or be sold to slavery) since his father Richard Tweak decided to sell their Harbucks franchise in order to fund another Coffee Shop that he was planning to make, and although Mr. Tweak did successfully sold the franchise and got enough money to build his own coffee shop, business didn't go too well and that so called Coffee shop "Tweak Bros." was soon closed down. Tweak's family is now left with a heavy debt and is more or less bankrupt, way to go Mr. Tweak you sure know how to do business!

Although they were saddled with debt, Tweek's family still isn't that poor compared to Kenny, well they would be if it weren't for Mrs. Tweak who was currently working as a clerk to some shop. Mr. Tweak on the other hand still hasn't found work himself so for the meantime he was the househusband.

Tweek had just graduated high school and is pretty much on a limbo about what he'd want to do in the future, the next step for him would have been to go to college but since it's expensive as fuck, Tweek had to put that thought on hold and instead prioritize finding a job ASAP, not only for college bills but also to help his family because seriously his Dad fucked up.

"Gah…This is way too much pressure!" Tweek mumbled as he browsed through the newspaper hoping to find work while twitching every few or so seconds.

"It's no use I can't find anything here, I need coffee." Tweek threw away the newspaper and went down towards the kitchen hoping to make a fresh cup of his favorite brew. Sadly there were no coffee grinds or even an instant coffee mix to be found, only three useless coffeemakers and a shit ton of coffee mugs, yup pretty much useless things.

"Oh Jesus, Mom, Did we run out of coffee?" Tweek asked his mother who was currently sat down at the dining table and seems to be writing something down.

"Yes dear, you know how we can't afford to spend a lot, we can only afford necessities it was either coffee or toilet paper."

"-Nng- I'd rather wipe my ass with leaves than to miss out on coffee." And with that said, Tweek left the house.

His mother didn't understand…Coffee IS a necessity, he can't last a day without drinking at least eight cups of that bitter brown liquid, and so far he'd had none.

Tweek fished out his wallet from his pocket to check the contents; from the three jobs he'd had this month he only earned a total of eight dollars before getting fired. Eight dollars was more than enough to buy a Venti cup or two from Harbucks, of course that meant that he wouldn't get to eat lunch later…but screw food, Tweek thought.

And because of this dangerously unhealthy diet, Tweek had grown only to maximum of 5'4 which was a bit short compared to the other guys his age, It was hard for him to get to sleep since he has been experiencing some mild to moderate insomnia from the caffeine. He was also pretty skinny due to the fact that he rarely eats three times a day and instead binges out on coffee, due to his skinny figure one might assume that he was a girl if it were dark. But Tweek is still very much a boy and he can actually knock some teeth out with his punch if you ever mess with him.

Tweek made his way towards Harbucks; it was the branch that his father used to own. Its new owner had renovated it and now it looks oh so shiny and new. It had re-opened a week ago but Tweek never had the chance to visit it since he was busy getting yelled at for being a spaz at Bennigan's last week.

"I sure hope the coffee still -nng- tastes as good as it used to be." Tweek thought. He loved the old Harbucks brew a lot, it was a lot better than what his father made…It was no wonder Tweak Bros closed down.

Tweek entered the shop; it was renovated quite nicely, a lot prettier and comfier than what it used to be. He then stood in line waiting for his turn to order, there were a lot of people so it was quite a long line but that didn't stop Tweek from getting his coffee. Soon enough it was his turn to order and he was happily greeted by the Cashier.

"Hey there cutie, how may I help y…Oh wait Tweek is that you?"

"Kenny?" Tweek said stating the obvious; he was legitimately surprised why of all people, Kenny was the cashier. Kenny and Tweek weren't exactly the very best of friends but they were close enough to hang out together during high school, Their relationship was more similar to a Mother and Son rather than friends, Kenny is surprisingly protective towards the guy, helping him out when he's in need, although it did come with the occasional one-sided flirting from Kenny since let's face it he does that to everyone, Tweek never acknowledged it since he was way too much of a spaz…or he's straight, maybe asexual? No one really knows.

"Yeah dude, I haven't seen you since graduation how are you man?"

"I am f-fine, I guess, so you -nng- work here?"

"Yup, so what can I get you?" Kenny grinned; He had missed Tweek's verbal tics and overall twitching.

Tweek told him his order with a thought in mind: that maybe Kenny could hook him up with a job like this; he would really love to work in Harbucks with all the coffee and stuff, It might be a little weird to work for a something that his family used to own but it seems better than most of his other jobs and it's either this or slavery.

"Here you go Tweek, That's all isn't it?" Kenny smiled as he gave Tweek a paper bag with his order in it.

"T-Thanks Kenny, oh uh wait can I ask you something before I go?" Tweek said nervously.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you think you can hook me up with a job like yours? I am kind of short on cash, I-it would be nice to w-work here."

"Hmm…I'll have to ask Mr. Asshole but yeah I guess I can, it'll be fun to work with you, we haven't hung around for a while." Kenny smiled again. He loved the idea of hanging around with Tweek again.

"Gah! Really?"

"Yup, your number is still the same right? I'll call you about it, there's a pretty long line waiting as you can see…" Kenny pointed to the people behind Tweek, the queue has doubled in length while the two were having a conversation and most of them look pretty annoyed.

"Oh Jesus…y-yeah it is, I am sorry for taking your time, I have to go…I'll wait for your call."

Tweek left as soon as Kenny nodded, He didn't want the others to get mad at him; that was too much pressure! But at least he got his coffee…I mean sure he won't be eating lunch later but who cares its Coffee!

"I hope Kenny gets me the job…" Tweek thought while sipping his coffee, he wasn't in the mood to go home just yet and he also didn't want his mother to find out that he spent all his money on coffee instead of lunch.

Tweek decided to hang around Stark's Pond for a while, sitting at one of the benches, the view of the lake somewhat relaxed the twitchy blonde.

He slowly drank the coffee he bought earlier while feeling at ease, it was a rare moment for the Tweek to be so calm, but of course this calmness was short lived because someone from afar suddenly decided to shout so fucking loud that the poor guy got startled and spilled all his coffee all over his pants.

"Ahhh…nggh what the fuck?!" Tweak screamed, He was pissed off of course over the loss of his coffee. What kind of person would shout at a peaceful place like Stark's pond anyway? Probably not a person in the right mind, Shit it might be some crazy Psycho whose out for blood or maybe a perverted rapist who has a fetish for skinny blondes? These thoughts soon filled Tweek's head.

Tweek then decided that the best course of action was to leave Stark's Pond as soon as possible, who knows what kind of fucked up people are out there, He lives in South Park after all.

On the way home Tweek realized that he had left his other cup of coffee at the bench of the pond…He didn't want to return for the fear of murderers so he had to make do with only a half cup of coffee in his system since the rest was wasted on his pants.

With a sigh Tweek returned to his room, he picked up the newspaper that he threw earlier then started browsing the newspaper for job openings, most were jobs that he had already taken and had gotten fired from.

"Fuck this!" Tweek angrily threw the newspaper away for the second time and then lied down his bed, thinking what the fuck he did to deserve such a fate of having a stupid father who had to risk everything in order to make his own dream come true…and to make it worse it didn't even flourish. Tweek does loves his father even with all those mistakes and even when he spouted stupid metaphors, but his father is a complete idiot with business that he can't help but blame all his frustrations on him.

Tweek sighed then covered his face with a pillow…he was really craving coffee, but he was broke and he'd had to settle for none.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Bennigan's is a reference to Butter's Very Own Episode, lol I am not promoting any restaurants. I guess this little tidbit also vaguely gives you a clue on how Butters is connected to Tweek in this fanfic.


	3. Chapter 3: An Act of Kindness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter that connects a bunch of stuff, nothing too interesting happens, Unless you count Kenny's shenanigans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: In this AU, Tweek never met and isn't friends with the main four (except Kenny) and Craig's gang, Although they did go to the same school though.

It has been two weeks since Craig started working as a coffee shop manager; so far it wasn't so bad…His only job was to check supplies, handle negotiations with suppliers (which always went well for Craig's part since the suppliers are scared of him) and to flip off Kenny, Clyde and Stan when they goof off. Craig thought it was peaceful and boring just the way he likes it.

"So should we open now?" asked Kenny, Kenny has surprisingly been doing a very good job as a barista he was the first the one to learn the basics and the fastest one to improve…so either he has a natural talent for making coffee or he's just doing so because he wants to impress girls or guys...nobody knows, since he flirts with everyone.

"Did Clyde finish mopping up the floor?" Craig asked with a bored look on his face.

"Yup!" an excited Clyde said, Clyde had been the complete opposite of Kenny, he still can't make a cup of plain fresh brew even after a week of training so his work mostly consists of mopping, washing dishes, bussing tables and carrying supplies to the stockroom; But Clyde didn't care since he gets to eat all the leftovers, What a tubby.

"Alright…open it up." Craig commanded, Stan then flipped the closed sign to open, he didn't want to admit it but he really liked flipping that sign, that's why whenever the opening or closing time is near, he would always be suspiciously near it so that he can be the one to flip it.

Craig proceeded to the Employee lounge, it was where he stays eighty percent of the time during work; checking supplies and doing paperwork like the boring guy he is. The lounge was a medium sized room which had been decorated quite nicely It had a nice blue couch, a coffee table, a mini fridge, dining table and a flat screen tv. The lounge was made so that the employees had a place to eat lunch and take breaks but since Craig abuses his Managerial powers he made it so that the other three leaves the lounge as soon as their break ends so he could have it all to himself, what a selfish dick…

"Oh shit…I forgot!" Kenny exclaimed, he had already taken his place at the register when he remembered the promise he made Tweek, he looked to Stan who was currently polishing mugs with a bored look on his face.

"Hey dude, can you watch the register for a while I have to go tell Craig something…"

"Sure." Stan nodded, Stan was also doing a good job at being a barista while not as good as Kenny…he was definitely better than Clyde. Stan wasn't really fond of the idea of Craig being his manager since the two of them had been rivals ever since kindergarten but for some reason Stan never complained about it, maybe it was due to the fact that he knows Token and Craig are best friends and he was only just a friend, Who the hell was he to interfere anyway? He just wants a job.

Craig had been discreetly doodling guinea pigs on one the papers instead of doing paperwork when an annoying Kenny barged in the Employee lounge.

"Heeeeereee's Kenny!" The hyper-active blonde pervert known as Kenneth McCormick opened the door in an extravagantly loud manner whilst holding a baguette with his both hands.

"Kenny…What the fuck?" Craig said in a deadpan but still slightly surprised voice while giving Kenny the middle finger.

"Just re-acting the scene from The Shining..." Kenny smirked.

"What the hell is the baguette for then?" Craig questioned, pointing to the long piece of bread the blonde was holding.

"I couldn't find an axe." Kenny said as he swung the baguette in an axe-like manner.

"Are you retarded?"

"Nope, anyway I forgot to tell this to you yesterday, a good friend of mine wants to work here, do you think you can give him a job?"

"I don't know, go ask Token" Craig said in a bored indifferent voice.

"Dude…You're the manager not Token."

"Yes, but Token owns the shop, personally I don't care whether we get a new employee or not but I think I would prefer that we didn't especially if he's a friend of yours." Craig said as he continued doodling on his papers although not as discreetly as before.

"Aww come on Dude…Token hasn't even visited us for a week, I think he doesn't even care about whatever the fuck we do here anyway." Kenny protested.

"I don't care either…" Craig flipped Kenny off; He was not amused at the idea of a new employee that happens to be a friend of Kenny's, who knows what kind of fucked up shit that guy's into to be friends with him.

"Alright fine I'll call Token instead since you're such a heartless asshole." Kenny stuck his tongue out at Craig and took out his phone, I bet you're surprised why a poor kid like Kenny even has a phone, where the fuck did he get the money to buy that thing? Kenny may be dirt poor but he has his ways…Anyway so Kenny took out his phone and called Token, patiently waiting for a response.

"Hello? Token…it's Kenny."

"I have a friend who wants to work here…Is he in?"

"Yes I told Craig…He said he didn't care."

"Oh really?"

"Do you want to talk to him?"

"Alright then…Thanks Token, Bye"

Kenny ended the call then looked at Craig's face with a smug grin.

"What?" Craig asked, raising his left eyebrow.

"He told me that it's all up to you…" Kenny smirked; Which Craig thought looked extremely annoying.

"Well if that's the case then no…I don't want a new employee." Craig said coldly.

"Oh come on, the kid needs a job, He's just like us! He said he was short on cash what if he was actually stuck on a huge debt and his family is starving poor maybe even poorer than me and he has no choice but to sell himself for slavery, don't you feel sorry for him?"

"I don't want to hire any friend of yours…They can starve to death for all I care"

"Dude why so heartless? I mean I know you're an unfeeling apathetic asshole but damn…to treat someone you haven't even met yet like shit, that's harsh."

Craig was slightly taken aback at Kenny's response. Maybe it was pretty asshole-ish of him to say that to a person he's never met even if it were a friend of Kenny's, Craig sighed and realized that being an asshole has its limits except maybe if you're Cartman.

"Alright, fine." Craig said, he decided that he can only wish death or suffering to others once he'd already met them, that way he'll be less of an asshole than Cartman but still gets to be the apathetic bastard he is.

"So he's in?" Kenny smiled; there's was legitimate happiness in his eyes.

"Not exactly…I need to check if he's qualified first, don't expect me to hire him too easily though. Because like I said I don't trust any of your friends.

"That seems fair, but dude I can't believe it, you do have a heart, that's so touching Craigey-poo." Kenny looked up at Craig, pretending to cry with tears of joy in an overly dramatic fashion, but his teasing smirk was still very much present.

"Just get the hell back to work…" Craig said while showing Kenny his favorite finger.

"Sure thing, Grumpy…" And with that Kenny left the lounge with his Baguette in tow.

Craig felt sick at the thought that he did something nice for Kenny and his friend; it wasn't very like him to do random acts of kindness. So he decided to "accidentally" spill coffee on Clyde's bag in order to balance out the kindness in him.

Meanwhile at the Tweak residence, Tweek is again frantically browsing newspapers, he was in a grumpy mood since he didn't have a single cup of coffee in him ever since he woke up.

"GAAAH! Oh Jesus!" Tweek screamed as was startled by his phone's ringing…

"He-Hello?" Tweek answered his phone, holding his chest…his heart was still beating fast due to the incident earlier.

"Hey Tweek, It's Kenny, about the job…My manager said that you had to be tested first or something before he can hire you.

"Tested!? What for?…that's way too much pressure man, What if they think I am on crack and refuse to hire me?!" Tweek panicked.

"I dunno but apparently he doesn't trust you because you're my friend…but don't worry about that dude, you have a lot of experience with coffee I am sure he'll hire you." Kenny assured him.

"-Nng- I don't know."

"Just brush up on your coffee knowledge and impress him with your barista skills…"

"But…I don't have barista skills." Tweek said while twitching.

"Just come here tomorrow around early morning, and try not to freak out when he's asking you questions, I should get back to work now. See you!" Kenny ended the call.

Tweek panicked…as much as he would like to work at Harbucks he didn't realize that there would be testing in the job, Sure he can make coffee and is well versed at distinguishing coffee beans but he can't do any fancy barista stuff, that's crazy!

He was beginning to regret asking Kenny for the job, he was grateful but the pressure of being tested got to him and to makes matters worst he hasn't had any coffee. Tweek started experiencing an extreme amount of anxiety, that he began to pull out his hair and banged his head on the table.

"Gah…Aw!" Okay so yes it did hurt Tweek and it was stupid for him to do so, but whenever he feels anxious or paranoid he would pull out his hair and sometimes bang his head on any near surface, he's lucky that doing so haven't done anything major in his head…or at least not yet.

"Now I really need coffee…" Tweek sighed as he once again looked at his empty wallet; it was empty of course since its contents were wasted yesterday on coffee he didn't even get to enjoy.


	4. Chapter 4: Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craig and Tweek finally meet each other.

Little drops of rain poured as Craig walked towards Harbucks with an umbrella in hand, the early morning breeze mixed with the calming scent of the rain eased him. When he finally reached the place Kenny opened the door for him…That was new, was he sucking up? Craig thought.

"Good Morning!" Kenny greeted with a smile.

Craig's response however was a middle finger to his face, how pleasant.

"So about my friend…You know the guy who needs a job, He's here and he's ready for the interview!"

Craig had already forgotten about what he had said yesterday, so it took him a moment to remember, as soon as the memories came flashing back to him he started hating himself for agreeing to Kenny. He then decided to just talk to Kenny's friend, find any measly fault and flat out reject him.

"So where is he then?" Craig asked with a bored look on his face.

"He's at the employee lounge; He came in like an hour early, why were you late anyway?"

"None of your goddamn business…" Craig said, he was actually late because he stayed up with his little sister last night watching Disney movies, but like hell he'll admit that.

"I was just asking…grumpy asshole." Kenny pouted, crossing his arms in an exaggerated manner.

Craig went to the Lounge and opened the door surprised to see the guy who was supposedly Kenny's friend, It was a small guy with blonde hair that looked like it was attacked by birds and his shirt was incorrectly buttoned, he looked like he was having an anxiety attack…hard to believe that this guy is friends with Kenny.

"Hey." Craig greeted, his voice devoid of any emotion, it was a simple greeting but the poor guy was still startled, I guess he didn't realize that another person had entered the room.

"OH JESUS!" the blonde's eyes went wide, he was now shaking more than ever but then he sighed closed his eyes for a while then inhaled and exhaled a couple of times, when he opened them again his shaking lessened considerably.

"Are you alright?" Craig asked, surprisingly there seemed to be genuine worry in Craig's words, since when did he care about others?

"Ye-Yeah I am fine, Are you -ngh- the Manager?" The blonde asked while twitching.

Craig nodded unsure of how to respond, the guy in front of him was weird, with all the twitching, spasms and the mentioning of "nngghs" …He was pretty sure the guy was on something, then again it could be a health condition and he was being an insensitive jerk, oh wait he was already one in the first place.

"Yes, I am Craig Tucker, Are you Kenny's friend…the one looking for a job?"

"Y-Yeah, Oh uh here" Tweek said while placing on top of the coffee table a bunch of papers, which was probably his resume. Craig just eyed the pile of papers then shifted his gaze back to the twitchy blonde.

"What's your name?"

"Tweek" The guy responded promptly.

"Tweek?" Craig repeated, while raising an eyebrow.

"M-My name is Tweek."

"O-Oh I see…Last name?" What the hell kind of a name is Tweek? Was this kid messing with him? Craig thought.

"Nggh…Tweak"

"You already told me that your name is Tweek, I was asking for your last name."

"Gah…It's TWEAK!"

"What" Craig said, his voice laced with a little bit of annoyance.

"Nggh…My name is Tweek Tweak!"

Craig checked the resume on top of the coffee table; it was indeed written there that his name was Tweek Tweak.

"Were your parents on crack when they named you? Craig asked incredulously.

"I think so…?" Tweek responded, Craig actually almost smiled at the response, the guy amused him somehow.

"So you have any experience with coffee?"

"Well I used to w-work here, also I drink eight cups of coffee a day...well right now not so much but…"

Craig was curious, what exactly did he mean when he said that he used to work here? Also who the hell drinks eight cups of coffee a day? Is that the reason why the guy so jittery, because he overdoses on caffeine?

"Care to explain?"

"I really love coffee; I think -nngh- I was weaned on it when I was a b-baby…"

"I meant the "you used to work here…" part."

"Oh uh…My dad used to own this branch but then he sold it to some guy so he can build his own Coffee shop b-but business didn't go too well though and -nngh- we got buried in debt, I used to help him serve and make coffee…So I know the basics, although I have never made anything fancy."

Craig somewhat felt sorry for the guy, he then remembered the conversation he had with Kenny yesterday, he really was in debt…and looking at Tweek he was really thin, maybe he wasn't starving to death yet but soon enough he will be if ever he didn't give the guy the job; And for some reason he didn't want that to happen.

Craig really hated how much empathy and emotion he's showing today, and it's all because of the vibrating blonde in front of him, as much as he hates to admit it he might have to cancel his other plan.

"Well…you're a lot more useful than Clyde if you already know the basics."

"Who's Clyde?"

"Just some fatass that you're going to be working with very soon…" Craig said, He can't believe it he's actually going to hire this guy, his whole plan to find any fault in the kid then reject him failed, He couldn't do it, he actually feels sorry for the guy.

"-Ngg- Oh wait do-does that mean I am going to..?" Tweek asked.

"Yes Tweek, you're uh hired…" Craig sighed, there was still a bit of hesitation in his voice.

"Really?! OH JESUS…thank you man!" Tweek exclaimed his face beaming with happiness, Craig was surprised to see him smile, as for the whole duration of the interview the blonde's expression were mostly of fear, anxiety and panic, it kind of felt like seeing the light at the end of a tunnel.

Craig felt something melting inside him when he saw it, genuine happiness showed in Tweek's smile and it was directed towards Craig, the happiness was so contagious and he couldn't help but smile back.

"U-uh g-go outside and meet your new fellow employees…Kenny can show you around since you guys are after all already friends…" Realizing that he had been staring too long at the blonde, Craig immediately attempted to dismiss him. He also didn't want Tweek to notice that he was quite flustered.

"Ri..Right…Thanks again Mr. Tucker" Tweek said cheerfully.

"D-dude, call me Craig calling me Mr. Tucker sounds weird…" Craig said while attempting to avoid the other guy's gaze.

"Oh…alright, thank you Craig." Tweek said as he smiled at Craig one last time before leaving the lounge to meet the others.

Craig just stood there with a dumb smile on his face…but then he realized that it wasn't like him to be smiling, he felt a little bit disgusted with himself for not going through his supposed plan, but he really didn't regret hiring Tweek, in fact he kind of actually felt happy. His cheeks felt warm, and his heart was beating fast, it was a feeling that he had never experienced before.

Gaining composure, Craig shrugged these feelings off, thinking it was way too gay, he decided to do his paperwork to get his mind off things or more like get his mind off someone.

"Tweeeek!" Kenny yelled as soon as he saw the guy coming out of the employee lounge.

"H-Hey Kenny." Tweek responded.

"So did you get the job?" Kenny asked, dying to know the answer.

"-Nngg- Yeah, Craig told me to go here and ask you to tour me around."

"That's great! But I am curious…how the hell did you convince Craig? I kind of thought he'd reject you so I was already looking for backup jobs." Kenny admitted.

"Why would he reject me?" Tweek asked rather curious.

"Well Craig is a heartless unfeeling asshole who feels no empathy towards others…" Kenny sneered, he didn't mean it as an insult, it's just really what Craig is.

"Gah!...Really? But he seemed pretty nice when I talked to him, well except for the part when he asked if my parents were on crack when they named me…"

"Are you sure that it's Craig and not someone else?"

"Well he said his name was Craig."

"Was he tall, black haired, blue eyed and wearing a blue chullo?"

"Yeah…w-wait oh god what if that guy was a doppelganger!? OH JESUS that guy could have killed me." Tweek said with panic in his voice.

"Calm down, Tweek..." Kenny said, whilst putting both his hands on top of Tweek's shoulders in order to calm him down.

"-Nngh- Bu-But the doppelgangers!" Tweek panicked.

"I was just messing around…Let's just go and introduce you to the others." Kenny said.

"A-Alright"

The two walked towards the counter where a very bored looking Stan was reading a magazine.

"Hey Stan, I'd like you to meet Tweek, He's our newest employee! Tweek this is Stan he's a pretty nice guy who always looks bored working but he's not really bored he's just using that as a facade to hide his sad face because his girlfriend broke up with him.

"Fuck off Kenny!" Stan angrily yelled, but then regretted doing so as it seemed to freak out the spazzy blonde next to him.

"Uh, hello nice to meet you…don't believe any crap Kenny says about me." Stan said calmly, trying not to scare the blonde any further

"Oh and there's Clyde…hey Clyde come over here!" Kenny beckoned.

Clyde was mopping up but instantly went towards them as soon as he heard the call, happily accepting any form of distraction from his work.

"This is Tweek, our newest employee say hi to Clyde, Tweek." Kenny said sounding very much like a mother introducing her child to a friend.

"Uh…Hi?" Clyde said quite unsure of what he's supposed to do.

"Y-You're Clyde?" Tweek asked, confused.

"Yup…I am, Clyde Donovan, Nice to meet you."

"But Craig -nng- told me you were fatass, you don't look fat at all…"

And with that said Clyde hugged the blonde crying manly tears, finally he met someone who didn't think he was fat, all his asshole friends can go die in hole.

"Tweek, you are now my friend…you are an angel among all these demons, you are the light that will vanquish all the evils of these world, you are the purest cinnamon roll…" Clyde said with a serious face as he grasped both of Tweek's hands.

"Uh ok?"

"Alright Geez, Clyde go back to mopping, you're going to scare the poor kid, Kenny said with a laugh, "Clyde can get easily attached to someone over the simplest of things" he thought.

"Kenny?"

"Yes Tweek? Oh wait I have to show you where the stockrooms are."

"Now that I work here…Do I get to drink all the coffee I want for free?"

"Yup, Just don't abuse the privilege though, Customers first as they say." Kenny said, as the two walked towards the stockroom.

As Kenny was explaining where all the cups and spoons go, Tweek had only one thing in mind…

Free Unlimited Coffee.


	5. Chapter 5: Special Treatment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craig is the worst type of boss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I am kinda overwhelmed by the amount of stuff to fill out in Ao3 but I honestly like their format better than ff.net

Today was Tweek's first day as a barista at Harbucks; he had gotten some training from Kenny last week, so he finally knew how to make those fancy latte things that girls love to drink. Tweek was quite nervous yet somewhat excited, he was going to try his best not to get fired this time, especially since he didn't want to lose the privilege of free coffee.

"Aww, you look pretty good in that uniform Tweek!" Kenny admired.

"Oh uh Thanks."

"He buttoned it all wrong though." Stan pointed out

"I think it adds character." Kenny replied.

"Character?" Stan questioned, unable to hide the curiosity in his voice.

"Yeah, like Clyde's the dumb but likeable one, Tweek's the cute spazzy one, you're the angsty and mysterious one and I am the hot one who everybody loves."

"Dude, what the hell? I am not angsty nor am I mysterious…"

"Well you've been pretty broody lately, do you want to be depressed and emo one instead? You should really patch things up with Kyle and Wendy."

"Fuck You, Kenny."

"Hey wait, why are you the hot one? I am the hot one!" Clyde spoke up, he was mopping floors earlier but somehow he had joined in the conversation.

"Dude, at least he didn't say that you're the fat one."

"Well that's true but…oh wait Craig can be the grumpy one that nobody likes." Clyde chimed in.

"No, I am the grumpy one who's about to kick all your asses if you don't start working right now." A monotone voice came out from behind Clyde's back, startling the four boys.

"Ah C-Craig!" Clyde nervously said, gripping his beloved mop in fear.

"What the hell are you all doing idling around for?" Craig furrowed his brows in irritation.

"Oh uh we're just admiring Tweek here, doesn't he look cute in his uniform?" Kenny spoke up, hoping to distract Craig from the earlier remarks that Clyde said.

"H-huh me?" Tweek asked confused, he had been quiet all this time and was surprised by the sudden attention, He looked at Craig wondering what the hell was going on.

Craig felt his face starting to flush at the sight of Tweek in his uniform, so he immediately shifted his gaze and ignore Tweek.

"Clyde go restock the supplies then mop up the floor out at the back, Stan go open up the store and man the register and Kenny prepare the brew…" Craig swiftly ordered around, masking all signs of fluster.

Kenny raised his brow, wondering what was up with Craig's reaction, then shifted his gaze to Tweek who looked confused as fuck.

"Uh Craig, W-what about me? Tweek spoke.

Craig was startled when Tweek addressed him, he had been trying to get his mind off of him for the last couple of days, upon seeing the smaller boy once again…most of his earlier feelings had resurfaced.

"Oh r-right…well all the chores are usually divided to three, I kind of forgot about you, you can just go ahead and relax I guess…" Craig said, his eyes never failing to avoid Tweek's

"Wh-What but it's my first day!"

"Um exactly, I don't want to go hard on you, work can get pretty rough after all, go ahead and drink coffee or whatever." Craig said with cool and calm voice then went on his way to the lounge; but despite looking seemingly cool during his exit, he was actually panicking and regretting what he had said, he didn't mean for that sentence to leak out but that was his true feelings, Craig then proceeded to bury his head in the pillows of the lounge's couch due to shame.

Meanwhile: Kenny, Stan and Clyde stared at Craig then Tweek with shocked faces.

"Dude…Since when did Craig become so nice?" Clyde asked.

"During our first day he told me to manually separate the bad coffee beans from the good ones, I had to do like seven ten kilos sacks of coffee beans and I swear I had a coffee bean related nightmare back then. Stan said.

"Well someone's getting a special treatment." Clyde pouted jealously.

"Ah so that's how it is." Kenny smirked then looked at Tweek; he finally got an idea of what was going on.

"Bu...But I wanted to work…" Tweek said somewhat disappointed, he did all that training for nothing.

"Don't worry Tweek, you'll get to work when it's rush hour, although if you really want to work you can go restock the supplies and mop the floor." Clyde suggested

"Isn't that your job?" Tweek asked.

"Well you said you wanted to work…didn't you?" Clyde said with a smile.

"Th-Then what would you do?"

"Nothing!" Clyde grinned.

"Ignore him, Tweek go ahead and do what you want to do, you'll get your share of work later." Stan said as he smacked Clyde in the back of his head.

Sadly business was slow today so even during the rush hour, Tweek didn't get the chance to work, he decided to past time drinking coffee and by the time the shop had closed Tweek had already drank over eleven cups of coffee.

The next day had been the same, but there were more costumers, unfortunately Craig still wouldn't let him work, although this time he wouldn't tell the reason why.

This went on until a week had passed by and Tweek still hadn't got to do any work, Craig never really let him, In the mornings he wouldn't assign anything to Tweek and would let him do whatever he wants, and when Tweek tries to help the others Craig would tell Tweek not to, then yell at the person he's helping to get the fuck back to work, during breaks Craig would offer to buy him food and lets him stay in the employee lounge while he shoos the other three away as soon as their break ends. Inside the lounge, Craig would often look at his paperwork while sneaking glances at Tweek, who would eat his food in confusion.

When Tweek got his paycheck and it was the same amount as Kenny, Clyde and Stan's. Tweek was indeed getting special treatment and he felt bad for having so.

Tweek did somewhat enjoy the free time he had, whenever he stays at the lounge Craig would sometimes talk to him asking simple questions about his hobbies and favorites, Craig was really nice, although sometimes he stares at Tweek a little too much and that kind of creeps the blonde out.

Friday night and it was once again closing time, and like always Tweek didn't get to work, Craig had left early and right now Stan, Kenny and Tweek were waiting for Clyde to lock up.

"Oh Jesus, I haven't done a single work since I started…" Tweek said, he really didn't know whether he liked being treated this way or not, he felt like he didn't deserve his pay.

"Yeah dude, what's up with that? Craig never lets you do anything meanwhile we're fucking overworked, what's the point of hiring another employee if you're not going to allow them to do anything?" Clyde complained.

"I am sorry, I would help but whenever I do, he just yells at you."

"Its fine, it's not your fault Tweek; anyway tell me again how I am not fat."

"Y...You're not fat?" Tweek said, Clyde sometimes creeped him out, every day he would go up to Tweek and ask him to tell him he's not fat, he would then laugh in the giddiest way possible.

"Clyde stop using Tweek to boost your self-confidence…Just lock the goddamn door so we can all go home." Stan said.

"I wonder…w-why Craig wouldn't let me work…does he think I am useless?" Tweek said as they all exited the back door.

"I can think of a good reason."Kenny grinned.

"What?" Stan asked curiously.

"Oh uh well I can't tell you yet, since I am not really sure, but I'll confirm it…"

Stan just shrugged at Kenny's response, thinking that he'll eventually tell them. Right now he has other things to think about.

As soon as Clyde locked up the back door the four parted ways each going to their individual homes, Kenny however, had other plans and decided to visit Craig's house knocking ever so loudly at the door.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Craig said as he opened the door.

"Can I ask you a question?" Kenny smiled

"You already did…" Craig deadpanned.

"Can I ask you…more questions?"

"Ask me tomorrow…" Craig was about to shut the door when Kenny swiftly used his foot as a doorstopper as if he were an overly pushy door to door salesman.

"Kenny, what the fuck?!" Craig shouted.

"Why did you hire Tweek? Kenny asked.

"What do you mean? I thought you wanted me to hire him?" Craig asked annoyed.

"Back then you told me that he can starve to death for all I care." What's with the sudden change of heart? I am grateful that you helped my friend, but your change of heart got me curious."

"It was a random act of kindness back then, and I hired him because he seemed more capable than Clyde, that answer your question?" Craig didn't want to admit he felt sorry for the guy because Craig Tucker after all is a heartless bastard if people found out that he felt sorry for some kid he just met, His image will be ruined.

"Is that really the reason?" Kenny grinned.

"Yes…Now go away." Craig said as he flashed him his middle finger.

"Do you like Tweek?"

"If I didn't then I wouldn't have hired him wouldn't I?" Craig sighed, he can at least admit that much.

"I meant do you like-like him, you know would you like-like to fuck him?"

"W-why the fuck would you ask me that?" Craig's face was about as red as tomato, but he kept his voice as monotone as ever.

"Why are you blushing?" Kenny teased.

"I am not." Craig flipped him off.

"That explains the special treatment, I think it's adorable how you're finally showing feelings for someone." Kenny nodded his head, in assurance.

"I don't give him special treatment, I just don't want to go hard on him…and I don't have feelings for him, I don't have feelings for anyone in general…"

"Yeah you do, you even offer to buy him lunch that's kind of like courting isn't it? Kenny said, Craig was getting annoyed.

"I am straight."

"Suuureee you are." Kenny teased.

"Fuck you." Craig said his voice actually had emotion in it, it was pure anger though.

"Tweek's the one you want to fuck, not me." Kenny grinned.

Craig once again flipped Kenny off then slammed the door shut, Kenny wasn't too successful at "doorstopping" this time so he was shut outside, but that's okay since he at least got what he came for. He walked back home with a smile on his face whistling a rather jolly tune.

Meanwhile Craig was confused…Why was Kenny forcing upon him the idea that he likes Tweek in that way? He had only known the guy for little while, it's impossible for him to have feelings of love for such a short time, sure he found Tweek adorable when he smiles and his twitches and spasms were getting less annoying and more cute as the days pass but it's not like he actually has THAT kind of feelings for him does he? He felt the heat rise from his cheeks, as he considered the thought.

"NOPE" Craig said, he then quickly ran to the bathroom to take a cold shower, to hopefully get his mind off of things.


	6. Chapter 6: Token

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Token is back!

After the events at Craig's house…change happened, Tweek no longer had his special treatment, He was as overworked as the other three and he no longer had the privilege to stay at the lounge after breaks, Craig also didn't talk to Tweek as much as he used to, He was avoiding Tweek more than usual, he even refused to make eye contact whenever they would talk about work.

Tweek of course didn't know why or what had happened, he was happy that he finally got to work but sad that Craig was now ignoring him, he didn't do anything wrong did he? Was he going to get fired? Was he going to lose his free unlimited coffee privilege? It was too much pressure for him.

"Why so sad, Tweek?" Kenny asked, worried about his friend.

"I d-dunno, it's Craig I guess…" Tweek responded.

"Oh, what's wrong with Craig?" Kenny said with a smile, clearly interested in what Tweek has to say.

"He's -ngg- avoiding me, I didn't do anything wrong did I?"

"I don't know did you?" Kenny said smiling, remembering the events that happened a couple of days ago.

"N-No, he didn't even let me work back then how could -nng- I have done something wrong?"

"No I guess you didn't." Kenny assured him.

"It's just so weird…He was so nice to me then, and now he's ignoring me, I hope that isn't a sign that I am getting fired."

Speaking of the devil, Craig came out of the lounge ( a miracle), and then walked towards Kenny and Tweek.

"What's up?" Kenny said with smile that irritated the hell out of Craig.

"Token called, he said he's coming here later." Craig deadpanned.

"Who's -Nnngh- Token?" Tweek asked hoping to get a response.

"He's the owner of the coffee shop." Craig replied promptly, whilst trying hard not to look at Tweek in the eye.

"I missed that douche…" Clyde said, as usual he was listening in on other people's conversation instead of doing his work.

"Yeah where the hell did he go anyway?" Kenny asked.

"How the hell should I know?" Craig shrugged. He then went back to the lounge like the hermit he is.

"Yeah, he just suddenly disappeared from our lives, he doesn't even call or text us…"Clyde said worriedly.

"You know for best friends, you guys don't seem to communicate much." Stan said looking at Clyde. Apparently he had also been listening on the conversation.

"Speak for yourself, when was the last time you spoke to Kyle?" Kenny teased.

"Shut up…" Stan answered, he did not want to be reminded of that stupid redhead again, so he decided to continue his work and go back to restocking the pastries.

"So uh, what happened between them?" Clyde curiously asked.

"Well I don't know the details but…one day Stan just suddenly told us that he hates Kyle, Cartman was extremely happy that day and he followed him around telling him that they should be best friends instead…it's rather funny really, well no I guess it isn't." Kenny explained.

"Jesus Kenny…Are you always this chatty?" Stan asked annoyed.

"Did you actually become best friends with Cartman?" Clyde asked, he was intrigued, and besides…talking more keeps him from continuing his work.

"Hell No! Jesus, can't you idiots stop talking about me and just get back to work?" Stan angrily said as he went back to the register.

"So who's Kyle?" Tweek asked discreetly, not wanting to be heard or else Stan might have another prissy fit.

"Stan's best friend, they have been like that since pre-school, And I could have sworn they were butt buddies if it weren't for Stan's girlfriend Wendy, but then they broke up a couple of months ago and that's when Stan declared he hated Kyle…everyone thought that she cheated on him with Kyle but I honestly doubt that's the case." Kenny whispered.

"Oh." Tweek nodded.

"Right so anyway let's get back to work…" Kenny said.

"Ugh." Clyde complained, he really didn't want to go back to work and wanted more distractions.

Luckily for him a certain someone entered the shop, a certain someone he knows very well…

"TOKEN!" Clyde screamed dropping his mop and rushing over to the guy and glomping him hard. The customers were all looking at him with confused faces but he didn't care.

"I fucking missed you, you piece of shit…" Clyde said, refusing to let go of his grip.

"Yeah yeah I miss you too…now get the hell off of me, the people might think were gay, well not that I mind." Token shook off Clyde who eventually let go.

"Where the hell have you been asshole?" Clyde asked…or more of demanded.

"Dude didn't I tell you that my parents and I are going on a two week vacation to Las Vegas?" Token asked, while fixing his clothes.

"NO, you did no such thing, you didn't even call or text us…Craig and I was worried you know?" Clyde pouted.

"Uh sorry, my mind must have gone off of things?" Token said.

"You're a terrible friend! You have better bought souvenirs for me." Clyde angrily said.

"I did, don't worry." Token assured him with a smile.

"So anyway, how's the shop?" Token asked as they walked towards the counter.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Token, where the hell have you been?"

"I was at Vegas, how it's going Kenneth? Hmm? Oh and who might you be?" Token asked as he took notice of the twitchy blonde who was standing (or rather hiding) behind Kenny."

"Remember when I called you to ask if you can hire my friend? Here he is…meet Tweek!" Kenny smiled as he introduced his jittery friend.

"Hey there."

"ARG! THIS IS TOO MUCH PRESSURE" Tweek panicked, then hid further behind Kenny.

"Uh…he's a bit shy."

"Nice to meet you Tweek, I am Token, Token Black…I am the owner of the shop." Token said as he held out his right hand for a hand shake, whilst flashing his million-dollar smile.

"A p-pleasure to meet you…Token" Tweek nervously said.

"Are you enjoying working here?" Token asked.

"GAH! Y-Yes pleasedontfiremeidontwannaloseunlimitedcoffeeprivilege!" Tweek spazzed out.

"Okay okay…calm down Tweek." Token assured, He then looked at the boy then wondered how in the hell did that guy get hired by Craig, he seems very unsuitable as a barista in his opinion, but then again he could be very talented at making coffee, let's not judge him right away; Token thought.

"He's quite the spaz don't you think? It's rather adorable…even Craig thinks so!" Kenny cheerfully said, Tweek didn't hear him though since he was now crouched at the floor having some sort of mild panic attack.

"Uh yeah…speaking of Craig, where is he? Token asked whilst a bit confused, He refused to believe that Craig finds anything adorable, that guy has the emotional capacity of a brick.

"He's at the lounge as usual, He's monopolizing that place…what a selfish asshole." Clyde who has surprisingly been quiet all this time, said.

"It's amazing that you actually know what monopolizing means." Token teased.

"Fuck you Token, I am not that dumb." Clyde said as he angrily crossed his arms.

Stan then came walking towards the four holding a tray containing brownies, He eyed Token and raised an eyebrow.

"Since when did you get here?"

"A little while ago…what you didn't miss me?"

"Nope, however Clyde over there did…he was bawling and crying like a child who lost his mommy." Stan smirked teasingly, something he hasn't done in a while.

"Yeah I figured he'd do that" Token smirked back.

"I did no such thing!" Clyde protested.

"So how are you?" Stan asked as he placed the tray of brownies inside the display shelf.

"I am fine; I went to Vegas if you're curious…How is it with the whole Wendy and Kyle thing?" Token said.

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"Right…so it's still a touchy subject huh? Well let's not talk about that then, Anyways I should go talk to Craig and ask how the store is doing, I'll see you guys later."

"Yeah, sure."

"Heyyy you never gave me my souvenir!" Clyde complained

"I don't have it with me right now, I'll give it you later…get back to your work for now." Token commanded.

"I am coming with you to the lounge!"

"Why?" Token asked.

"Because I miss you so much that I don't want to miss a second away from you…" Clyde said in the sweetest voice he can manage.

"You just don't want to get back to work do you? Token smiled at him, whilst gently patting the other boy's head.

"Yup, but the missing you part is partially true." Clyde nodded.

"I swear you're like an overly attached girlfriend…only more annoying." Token sighed.

The pair entered the lounge only to find Craig hitting himself in the head with one of the couch's pillows.

"What the actual fuck." Clyde said.

"F-fuck." Craig said, slightly startled and embarrassed that his two best friends caught him in the act of hitting himself.

"Did you really miss me that much, that you completely lost your sanity?" Token laughed, although he seemed amused he was actually quite slightly disturbed as to why his completely aloof and apathetic friend is hitting himself with a pillow like some sort of retard.

"Fuck you Token." Craig said as flipped him off.

"D'aaaaw I missed that finger of yours Craig." Token cooed.

"Well then here's another one…where the fuck have you been anyway?" Craig said as he held out his other middle finger.

"Dude, Token went to Vegas and he bought souvenirs! Well he doesn't actually have them right now, but duuude…SOUVENIRS!" Clyde excitedly said.

"Yup, I bought one for Kenny and Stan too since they were now technically working for me, but I didn't get the new guy anything, I don't want to seem unfair to him, So I wonder what I could get him?"

"New guy...you mean Tweek?

"Yup unless there's another new guy, which I am pretty sure there's not. Oh and by the way, why did you hire him? It's rather unlikely for you to hire anyone so twitchy and fidgety, actually no it's highly unlikely for you to hire anyone at all. So tell me Craig, is Tweek supposed to be special?"

Craig struggled to keep his cool, feeling warmth across his face, he didn't expect Token to question him about this, he wondered how he should go about answering his friend without revealing his fondness for Tweek, wait fondness? I am not fond of him, not at all, nope…and so continues Craig's internal struggle.

"Hey, Tweek is super cool, he's like totally my new best friend!" Clyde said breaking the silence, Craig sighed relieved that his dumb friend felt the need to say something at that moment…that is until he realized what the brunette had said.

"Since when?" Craig said in an accusing tone, there was a slight bit of annoyance and maybe even jealousy in his voice.

"Since we first met!" Clyde said smugly.

"I find that hard to believe…"

"Well believe it."

"No, like hell he'll be friends with you." Craig mocked.

"We'll he is, I asked him if he wants to be friends and he agreed!" Clyde shouted.

"That's a bunch of bullshit."

"You're just jealous." Clyde teased.

"W-what why the fuck would I be jealous?" Craig said, his voice leaked of denial.

"Because you can't make friends as easily as I do…" Clyde smirked.

"That isn't even something to be jealous about, fatass." Craig said.

"Screw you, I am not fat!" Clyde objected.

"Holy fuck, can you two idiots knock it out?" Token spoke up, annoyance was clearly in his voice. This action caused Craig and Clyde to stop bickering and well…make up.

"Craig, can you just tell me why you hired him? I mean Tweek offense but I am really curious why Craig Tucker of all people would hire a guy as spastic, twitchy and paranoiac as he." Token sighed.

"Oh uh well Tweek was the son of the guy who used to own this Harbucks branch, apparently they got stuck in some debt and got bankrupt, I kind of felt sorry for the guy so I hired him…" Craig said, relieved that he was able to answer without stuttering. He really couldn't think straight whenever the topic of the conversation was Tweek.

"Wait…You felt sorry for him?" Clyde asked incredulously.

"Uh y-yeah." Craig answered, trying to keep his cool façade.

"I can't believe that you actually have emotions Craig…you're finally turning human!" Token teased.

Craig angrily glared at Clyde and Token then he both gave them the middle finger. He was actually quite happy that so far he's hiding his emotions quite well.

"So Tweek's the son of Mr. Tweak? That makes sense...but fine, I am all cool about that just as long as he does his work properly…speaking of which, how has business been going?" Token asked.

"Not so good these past few days, the first week had been such a success, I wonder what's up with the sudden decline of customers?" Craig said. He is finally able to relax, finally the topic changed to something he can deadpan about, and not be a bumbling mess with.

"Maybe they don't like our coffee anymore?" Clyde suggested.

"That's impossible everybody loves Harbucks." Token said.

"I kind of like not having anything to do when there's no customers around, I feel so at ease!" Clyde happily said.

"Dude not cool, that's bad for the business…My father will kill me if this shop goes under." Token scolded.

"Well it's not like there's any customers around…" Clyde said.

"I think most people in South Park are out of town, it is summer break after all." Craig deadpanned.

"Summer Break…" Token said.

"What about it?" Clyde asked.

Token sighed and then closed his eyes, he placed his index finger in his left temple as if in deep thought and then…."I GOT IT" he exclaimed.

"What?" Clyde and Craig both said.

"Let's go on a company retreat!" Token excitedly said.


	7. Chapter 7: Summer Retreat - A Prelude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A somewhat filler chapter, about the boys preparing to go to the beach.

It was a rather hot and humid morning, droplets upon droplets of sweat trickled down Clyde's forehead. His clothing which was slightly drenched with sweat clung unto him leaving him feeling uncomfortable, wanting to lessen the heat and with nothing to fan himself with, he decided to use his hands but that was nothing more than a futile attempt to cool off as it weren't giving him much air, he looked over to his left to see a very irritated Stan who seemed to be in the same situation as him.

"Jeez, summer at South Park isn't normally this hot, fucking hell…this heat is infuriating." Stan sighed, as he wiped the sweat that was caught on his eyebrows.

"Global Warming?"

"Fuck off, Clyde."

Clyde pouted, Stan was obviously in a bad mood, but that doesn't mean it's okay for him to shut him down just like that, Clyde decided that he'd had enough of his grumpy co-worker's face so he turned his head to his right to see Craig who looked to be equally as irritated as Stan. Clyde immediately felt that something was off when he saw his other friend, did he get taller? Nope, he's still as tall as ever, lose weight? Nope, he still looks the same, did he get a haircut? Nope, same jet-black hair as always. So then what was it? Why does it seem like there's something off with his friend? Clyde thought hard, what was wrong with him…? He knew it was Craig but he couldn't understand why something just felt so off with him…wait a minute…Hair? Normally Craig's hair wasn't visible so why did…?

"Holy shit dude, where the hell is your weird hat?"

"What?"

"You're not wearing your weird hat thing, I can see your hair! I can actually see your hair!" Clyde cried out dumbly.

"So? It's freaking hot as hell out here, why should I wear my hat? Do you want me to die from heat stroke?" Craig replied with an unamused expression.

"Bu-But it's like your trademark! You can't be Craig without your weird blue hat! Just like Stan here can't be Stan without his red poofball hat!

"What the fuck are you talking about? I am not wearing my hat either."

"Huh?"

Clyde's eyes went wide when he saw that Stan was indeed not wearing his usual cap, how did he not notice before? A shiver then went down his spine as he realized that he was in the middle of a grumpy raven-haired sandwich. Craig and Stan looked so similar that he couldn't help being slightly disturbed. Clyde decided to keep quiet, feeling intimidated by the two.

Stan and Craig looked at each other in response to their friend's sudden silence, but just shrugged it off, relieved that Clyde finally stopped talking.

"Dammit, where the hell are they?" Craig let out another sigh, the three of them have been waiting for almost two hours outside of Harbucks, which was currently closed since Token decided to hold off their operations this weekend and instead go on a Summer Retreat to the beach, which was a couple of towns away.

"Should I try calling Kenny again? He hasn't been answering his phone though, he must be out of range." Stan suggested.

"Token hasn't answered his phone either, it seems to be turned off…Jeez those fucking idiots, making us wait out here in the sun."

"Have you tried calling Tweek?"

"No, I don't have his number anyway." Craig said disappointedly.

"Shouldn't you have it by now?"

"W-what do you mean? W-why should I have it? W-we're not close! I don't need his number…I don't want it at all!" Craig blushed, honestly his denial is so apparent that it's almost tangible.

"Uh you're his boss?"

"O-oh…yeah."

"Well?"

"But I still don't have it though."

"You sure do make a great and capable boss." Stan's voice dripped with sarcasm, which of course didn't go unnoticed by Craig.

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you too."

"You guys, are freaking me out…it's like seeing two mirror images fight." Clyde broke his silence and decided to speak up.

It was right after that sentence that a sleek silver luxury vehicle parked in front of the three boys. The door then opened to reveal Token, looking annoyingly handsome and cool in his designer shirt and his stylish sunglasses…the worst part is that he doesn't seem to be sweating at all.

"Well, well, well…look who finally decided to show up! We were waiting for two hours in this tremendous heat, where have you been?" Clyde nagged.

"What are you talking about? I am thirty minutes early, look…"

The three checked Token's fancy watch, and indeed it did say that it was thirty minutes earlier than their supposed meeting time.

"Didn't you guys synchronize your watches with me yesterday? You know you had to do that right? Especially you Clyde since your watch is really flunky…I am not really surprised this happened to Clyde but not to you guys, didn't you have the decency to check your phones for the right time? Maybe I should buy you watches for Christmas?"

Craig and Stan mentally face palmed themselves, they should have never trusted Clyde with the time and they should have never believed his call when he said that they were late. Those two hours of waiting under the sun were all for naught.

"If it makes you feel any better how about I treat you guys to some ice cream?"

"Oh god, yes!" Clyde squealed.

"Thanks man, those words you said are like a Band-Aid to heal our depressed souls." Stan sighed.

"But still…that's suspiciously nice of you Token, you must be planning something aren't you?" Clyde accused.

"Okay, no ice cream for Clyde then."

"WHAT!? HEY!"

"Oooh did somebody say ice cream?" A familiar voice called out.

The gang looked to where the voice was coming from, from afar came Kenny who despite the heat still wore his usual orange parka except with its hood down, he held a duffel bag in his left hand and with his right he dragged the hand of a very tired looking Tweek.

"Great we're all here!"

"I didn't expect you guys to be here so early, Ugh it's so hot…so anyway what's the thing about ice cream?" Kenny said excitedly.

"These three have been waiting here in the heat for almost two hours, so I offered to treat them to ice cream, of course that offer extends to you guys too."

"Sweet!"

"Shouldn't we load our things in the car first before we go?" Stan suggested.

"Ah yeah, we probably should."

The six loaded up their luggage to Token's ridiculously expensive car, then afterwards went on their way to a nearby ice cream parlor. Clyde still got his ice cream, Token couldn't actually resist his dumb friend, poor thing still waited for two hours in the heat, and even if it was his fault, Token couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Nothing particularly interesting happened at the ice cream parlor, except for the fact that Kenny was disturbingly licking and sucking on his Popsicle as if it were a dick and that Tweek revealed that he hates coffee ice cream and instead prefers strawberry…what an unexpected plot twist.

And so the gang continued on riding the car to the beach, Clyde called shotgun but unfortunately Craig wanted it too so he uncharacteristically raced ahead of Clyde and sat down at the front seat, Ignoring the complains of his brunet friend, he flashed a mockingly smug smile…but then immediately regretted this action as he saw Clyde defeatedly sat next to Tweek at the back with his arms crossed, realization came to Craig that he could have had sat next to Tweek. Well it's not that he wanted to…Craig thought. But come on let's be honest here, he totally does.

"Why so glum, chum?" Token asked jokingly but he was honestly worried about his friend, he was currently driving and had his eyes on the road but at the very corner of his eye he noticed Craig's gloomy expression.

"It's nothing, ignore me."

"Yeah, ignore him Token! He's a dick…he totally disrespected the rules of riding shotgun!" Clyde scowled.

Craig presented his middle finger to the back of the car, or to be more specific, in front of Clyde's face.

"Dude, Craig's totally pms-ing." Clyde whispered to Stan who sat beside him, unfortunately Stan didn't hear him as he had earphones on and was imagining himself to be in a music video whilst looking through the car window and watching the trees pass by.

Clyde, who felt that his joke went by unappreciated by Stan, decided to whisper it to Tweek instead.

"Huh? What's wrong with Craig?" Tweek replied, which caught the attention of everyone.

"Aww come on Tweek, the joke went right over your head!"

"Joke? So Craig isn't really sick? What a relief." Tweek exhaled.

"Oh no, he's sick alright…Love Sick." Kenny chimed in, which again caught the attention of everyone, this caused a bit of a ruckus as it elevated the other's curiosity.

"Love Sick? Craig? That's impossible…wait with who?" Clyde said, curiosity was very apparent in his voice.

"Is that true?" Stan said, he somehow overheard the conversation despite wearing earphones.

"Dude is there something you haven't been telling us?" Token grinned.

"What the hell, Kenny?! Stop saying that crap about me, you're giving everyone the wrong idea!"

"Who is it Kenny?" Clyde asked, like hell will he pass this up, his curiosity levels are off the charts.

"Oh man, you'll be so surprised…once you know who it is, well maybe not because it's obvious." Kenny teased.

"Someone obvious?" Token repeated.

"Wait…do we know them?" Stan asked.

"Whoooooo the heeeeeell iiiiis iiit?!" Clyde said as he grabbed unto Kenny's parka.

"Clyde, shut up…" Craig protested, he was now beginning to regret agreeing on going on this trip, thanks to Kenny and Clyde, the quiet road trip he had wished for didn't occur, and instead his love life was in question. Craig felt a headache brewing up from all the noise and questioning that his friends have been doing, or perhaps it was due to staying for two hours in the heat a while back? Either way Craig felt like hell.

"Ugh, you guys are idiots…"

Craig sighed, bringing his hand to his forehead, he wanted to yell, but his headache seems to be getting worse, so he kept quiet instead, attempting to ignore the ruckus that was currently going on in the car. Much to his dismay he felt a poke on his shoulder, it was very gentle though, it was a poke that one would use to boop the nose of a baby or a very cute dog. Craig readied his middle finger then reluctantly turned his head to see who had poked him, but found his heart skipping a beat as his blue eyes met green.

"Craig?"

"Y-you...H-Hi." Craig, said awkwardly, Perhaps it was either because of the embarrassment of his cringey reply or that his face was only about three inches away from Tweek but Craig was about as red as a tomato right now.

"H-here." Tweek handed him a mostly full bottle of water, Craig instinctively accepted it from the blonde boy despite not being sure what to do with it.

"You're not feeling well right? You should drink that, you're probably dehydrated from staying too long in the sun earlier." Tweek smiled sweetly, true to Clyde's words he was indeed an angel amongst all these demons, demons whose names are Kenneth McCormick, Stanley Marsh, Clyde Donovan and Token Black.

"Thank you." Craig smiled back, genuinely happy that someone actually cares about him, and the fact that, that someone is Tweek.

"But um, I hope you don't mind that I already drank out of that." Tweek said worriedly, Craig had already twisted the cap off of the bottle and was preparing to drink it when he heard what the blonde had said.

"I-I don't mind." Craig replied as he drank from the bottle, ignoring the blush that was creeping up his cheeks at the thought of the fact that he and Tweek shared had an indirect kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite the fact that it's kinda filler, this is actually one of my favorite chapter, because it was very fun to write.


	8. Chapter 8: Summer Retreat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys have fun in the beach.

"Are we there yet?" cried Clyde, who was bored out of his mind, they've only been driving for about an hour and a half, which wasn't really that long of a time, but for Clyde it felt like an eternity.

"Nope." Token replied, he didn't want to amuse his friend anymore, it was the tenth time that he had asked that during the trip, he had ran out of witty responses to say, and felt that his brunet friend was too stupid to appreciate them anyway.

Aside for Clyde, the other boys had settled down and had gotten quieter compared to their earlier state, Stan had continued listening to his music whilst looking through the window, Kenny shifted his attention to a phone game, Tweek sat patiently and Craig decided to take a nap.

Their earlier conversation about Craig's love life was dismissed when Kenny who felt sorry for teasing Craig, admitted that it was all just a joke, not that it was but Kenny did feel bad for taunting the guy too much. Also he was sure that doing something bad to Craig, might come back biting him in the ass one day, and he didn't want any of that bad karma.

"Are we there y-"

"Nope." Token interjected. Despite being increasingly annoyed his face was still calm, the amount of patience this guy has is amazing.

"It's getting pretty cloudy." Tweek spoke.

"Oh you're right it is, I hope it doesn't rain…" Kenny replied.

"Mere rain won't stop me from picking up beach babes!" Clyde exclaimed while beaming a smug smile.

"Even if it didn't rain, your face is ugly enough to stop you from picking up girls." Craig suddenly spoke up in a groggy voice.

"Heeeey! Weren't you sleeping?" Clyde questioned Craig who was currently rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"I woke up from the sheer ridiculousness of what you had just said, also your voice is annoyingly loud."

"Oh please, you're just jealous, have you forgotten the fact that I was voted the cutest guy during fourth grade?"

"Have you forgotten the fact that, that list was a fake?" Craig rebutted.

"Hmmph, well my penis was bigger than yours during fourth grade…I was hung like a horse with a two point three inches!"

"Yep, and you probably still are." Craig deadpanned.

"Exactly!" Clyde smiled smugly, but then suddenly realized what Craig had meant.

"Heeeeeeeeeey!"

"We're here!" Token exclaimed, causing not only the car to stop moving but also the bickering of his two friends. The group then exited the vehicle and went on their way finding a nice spot to set up their things in on the beach.

"Let's do it here." Token pointed to a spot where a significantly less amount of people stayed, it was twenty five feet away from the actual ocean and a cool breeze would blow ever so often towards the spot…in short, it was perfect. Craig then set up a huge beach umbrella and Stan laid out some mats to sit on.

"Alright, Time to go pick up some chicks!" Clyde excitedly declared, as he quickly took off his shirt then flashed his imaginary six-pack abs.

The others just looked at him unamused and shrugged, they already knew that it's not going to end well for the guy, Craig decided to keep his mouth shut this time, he didn't want to continue his petty bickering with Clyde anymore, instead he wants to see Clyde get rejected by a bunch of girls to effectively deflate his overwhelmingly large ego.

"I think I'll go out for swim, you guys coming with me?" Token offered.

"I'll pass." Stan replied dully.

"I'll go with you, Tokey-poo!" Kenny nodded, quickly standing up then removing his orange parka in an exaggerated fashion, revealing the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath it. Kenny's discarded article of clothing then landed on Stan's head, which of course angered the boy.

"What the fuck Kenny? Euugh this stinks!" Stan angrily removed the parka from his head then threw it away from him.

"Of course it does, I wear that every day! Not everyone can afford to buy a lot clothes Stan!"

"Couldn't you at least wash it? Jeez…it smells like dead rats. "

"Well not anyone can afford to do laundry, Stan!"

"Ugh, whatever…" Stan rolled his eyes then grumpily mumbled. "Why did I even come here with you guys?"

"Come on dude, even on this unbelievably fine day, you're still saltier than the actual sea? What? Are you on your period or something?" Kenny teased.

"F-fuck you!" Stan yelled out chasing Kenny who had ran towards the ocean, painfully unaware of the fact that Kenny was obviously baiting him into chasing him so that he could hang out with them at the sea. Token soon followed the two after realizing what Kenny had in mind.

Craig who was left behind, eyed his three friends. Their wacky chasing antics amused him, perhaps the trip wasn't so bad after all? He then shifted his attention to the far right where a lone Clyde stands, flexing his non-existent biceps to a bunch of lovely looking ladies who doesn't seem to be the least bit interested in him. Craig couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle once one of the girls flat out told him to "Fuck Off'.

"Hmm? What's so funny?"

"Oh uh…Clyde."

Craig was once again startled, he didn't expect Tweek to suddenly talk to him, looking around, he suddenly realized that the two of them we're alone, under the umbrella's shade, with nothing but a few centimeters keeping them apart. From a bystander's perspective they probably look like they were on a very romantic beach date. Craig felt conscious, he didn't want the others to think that they're a couple or something, he decided that the best course of action was to act as platonic as possible towards Tweek.

"Uh…Y-you're not going to join them?" Even with his best efforts, Craig never fails to seem awkward when talking to Tweek.

"N-no, I a-am f-fine here." Tweek replied as his body shifted uncomfortably.

Craig had to raise an eyebrow when he noticed Tweek's action, there was definitely something wrong there.

"Is there something wrong?" Craig asked with genuine worry.

Tweek looked to Craig, pondering for a moment what to say, with a sigh he then gestured for Craig to come closer to him. Craig felt a bit conflicted on whether or not he should do as the blonde had ordered, but nevertheless he did it anyway.

"I can't swim…" Tweek uttered in a hushed tone, Craig felt the assault of different sensations... the warmth in his ears, the faint scent of coffee, and the ever so sweet voice of Tweek's soft whispers. The warmth of his ears eventually transferred to his cheeks when he realized what Tweek had done.

Craig looked at Tweek and he saw that the blonde was also blushing, albeit for a different reason than he is, Craig decided to shrug off the feeling he felt during the whispering event and instead focus on what Tweek had said.

"Well you shouldn't be embarrassed about that, lots of other people can't swim too...And besides it's never too late to learn how to."

"Y-you're right but that's not really the main issue to be honest…" Tweek said bashfully, whilst fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"What is it then?" Craig asked, trying to ignore the fact that he thinks what Tweek was doing is absurdly cute.

"The sea."

"Hm?"

"The sea, IT'S giving me anxiety man…like what if I drown? I d-don't know how to swim at all! And oh god what if they never find my body when I drown? My body will disappear without a trace –GAH- THE FISHES WILL EAT ME DUDE! EVEN MY CORPSE WILL CEAST TO EXIST!" Tweek panicked, twitching and grabbing fistfuls of hair.

"Hey, Calm down…" Craig whose concern levels were off the charts, put his hands on Tweek's shoulders as an attempt to calm him down.

"Oh uh S-sorry…"

"If you really hate the sea, then why did you agree to come here? Jeez…we're not forcing you or anything."

"B-but…I want to go! I really want to spend time with you guys…I think everyone is really cool."

"You think everyone is cool…Even Clyde?"

"Y-yeah, I mean Clyde is weird sometimes…but he can be really nice too!"

"Hahahaha, He's nice? Dude you're a horrible judge of character…but yeah I guess Clyde is pretty likeable." Craig couldn't help but laugh, for some reason at this very moment, His usual awkwardness around Tweek wasn't interfering, He could actually talk to him right now without seeming like a love-struck buffoon; Craig felt proud of himself for that.

"B-But you know…I think you're cool too! A-Admittedly I thought that you were really scary and intimidating at first but eventually I realized that you're not so bad, in fact I think you're very nice…"

"Huh?"

"Everyone insults and teases each other all the time but I know that no one really means it, I can feel like there's a special bond between you guys, everyone has such a different personality but I still feel that you guys all get along in the end, it's really great because in that way you guys are like a family, and ever since I've started working with you, even if it's only for a short time…I kind of feel like I am part of it. I am really happy that I got to work with you, I am really grateful for it…So thank you…Craig."

Craig felt something inside him bubble up…warm fluttery feelings he didn't know he had. All those years of apathy and coldness, he didn't know that he had something good underneath it. He didn't know what he did to deserve such pure and wholesome words from Tweek, but he was definitely happy to hear it.

"Ah jeez, I am sorry…I babbled didn't I?" Tweek spoke up, nervously scratching the back of his pale ear.

"No don't be…what you said, it was really sweet…I uh just don't really know what to say, I-I am not really good during these kind of situations so..."

"Oh, I feel the same way! T-that was really cute…how you're able to admit that, I don't think I can do that myself, you're really great for being able to do that! See this is what I meant when I said that I think you're really cool Craig!" Tweek smiled at Craig, it was so sweet and pure that Craig felt that he didn't deserve to see such a magnificent sight.

"W-w-want to go build sandcastles?" Was unfortunately all Craig could think to reply, his awkwardness towards Tweek returned, but something definitely deepened in their relationship.

"S-sure!" Tweek nodded.

Meanwhile...

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" Clyde screamed in frustration, he was once again rejected by a girl, it was the fourteenth time this day.

"But I am so beautiful and ripped! The ladies should be the one lining up to me and I should be the one rejecting them…well not that I would because I am gentleman…but what the hell?!"

"What are you screaming around for? You're scaring people." Token approached Clyde.

Clyde looked to Token, but what he saw further put him into a bad mood. Two well-endowed and beautiful ladies clung unto each arm of Token, both we're looking at Clyde with a disgusted look.

"YOU!" Clyde threatened.

"Me." Token replied dryly.

Clyde couldn't help his rage, he suddenly started to tackle Token causing the two girls to flee, and for Token and him to tumble into the sand.

In the far distance a faint sound of Stan can be heard, screaming "Oh my God the sea killed Kenny!"

What great friends they are indeed, truly these guys are very much like a family…


	9. Chapter 9: Summer Retreat 2 - Electric Boogaloo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final part of the Summer Retreat Trilogy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: In fanfiction.net, there was a character count limitation for chapter titles, So I had to changed it to Summer Retreat finale instead, the good thing is here in ao3 there's a whooping 255 character limit.
> 
> Anyway chapter dump ends here, so sorry about that. I can't import work from ff.net so I had to do it manually. I forgot to mention that the first 6 chapters of the fanfic was written in 2014 and chapter 7 onwards was written just this year.

Craig stared at the marvel in front of him, it was a three tiered, two and a half feet sandcastle…with magnificently detailed towers, finely structured battlements, elaborately designed stairways, and gates adorned with the most pristine of beach shells. To top it all off, a moat that was about four inches deep was dug around it and filled with sea water.

"I-It's beautiful…"

"You really think so? That's nice to hear, but I do wish we had a flag for it though…" Tweek replied whilst wiping the sweat that ran down his forehead with a dark blue towel.

Craig couldn't help but stare in awe of Tweek who after wiping his sweat had returned to doing his previous task of gently smoothing out one of the towers with a damp finger, he couldn't believe that someone so twitchy and fidgety as him could be so skilled with sculpting sandcastles…it was a very delicate and focused task and yet he managed to build a breath-taking one in just under three hours!

"You're amazing!"

"H-huh?" Tweek looked up to Craig, staring right into his eyes.

"Uh t-the sandcastle it's amazing...I mean uh y-yeah wait no, I mean you're great too but I uh- fuck..."

Craig wanted to hit himself, he couldn't help the fact that whenever he's around Tweek he alternates between bouts of calm and full on fluster. Just being around the twitchy blonde boy turns him into a complete and utter mess.

"Oh, thanks. But it's only amazing because you helped! We worked together on it, and if it weren't for you then I wouldn't have been able to create this."

"I hardly helped though."

"That's not true! Admittedly you may not have done a lot, in terms of the actual building but you were the one who helped gather the materials and supported me all the way!"

"Well y-yeah I guess but like I said earlier, carrying buckets of sand and water is hardly comparable to creating this wonder." Craig pointed to the sandcastle, admiring it with a smile.

"It has that kind of beauty that should be preserved."

An idea then popped into Craig's head, causing him to immediately walk towards his bag and grab something from it. Craig pulled out a small navy blue cloth case and inside it was an old-fashioned Polaroid camera.

"Let's take a picture of it!"

"O-okay…" Tweek nodded, he then walked towards Craig and watched as the taller boy attempt to photograph their sandcastle.

A click and the sound of the shutter closing was heard, and after a few seconds or so a small film came out of the camera.

"Let's see…" Craig gingerly shook the Polaroid, looking relieved when the photo slowly revealed that he was able to take the proper angles and that it had the right composition and light to it.

"It came out great!"

"Yeah I think so too…well not to be smug or anything."

"You're not, it's alright to be proud of your work, especially if it's something as amazing as this."

Craig looked at the picture, the sandcastle that Tweek made stood magnificently in the dead center of the photograph, indeed it was a good shot.

"Here, you can have this." Craig held out the small Polaroid to Tweek, whose eyes went wide with amazement.

"Really? But you were the one who took a photo of it."

"Yeah, but you were the one who made the sandcastle, think of it as a trophy for a job well done, like you said earlier...you should be proud of your work right?

"R-right…" Tweek blushed, Craig had unconsciously smiled at him, it was one of the things that Tweek doesn't see too often Craig do.

"So y-you like photography, Craig?"

"Yeah, I do! Well...aside from that my main interest is actually film-making, or just dabbling in cinematography in general." Craig carefully stored his camera back to its case.

"Film-making? Like movies?"

"Yeah, movies are amazing aren't they? Aside from making movies I also like watching them, they're like short distractions from reality, and every single one of them tells a different story that you relive through the characters."

"I l-like watching movies too...well back when I was able to watch them...I guess, nowadays I can't really afford to." Tweek sighed, he suddenly remembered all the debt his family owes, he doesn't have the luxury to do fun things anymore.

Upon seeing the small frown upon Tweek's face, Craig felt sorry for the blonde, he wondered if perhaps he shouldn't have mentioned anything about movies. But after thinking back on what he had said earlier, he was a bit proud of what he had been able to say, he was able to reveal to Tweek his interests and passion...and it all flowed through naturally with none of the usual stutters and fluster that he has when he talks to him.

He then felt guilty about the fact that he was proud of such a thing, he wanted to make up for it so he decided that he should do something for Tweek.

"I uh...I could treat you to the movies if you want." Craig bit his lip after realizing what he had just said, it was very reminiscent to an offer of a date. Something that as much as he denied...actually wanted to have with Tweek. Craig thought it was selfish of him to have asked so, it shouldn't be something that he wanted...it should be what Tweek wants. And he wanted to punch himself for saying that.

"W-well...I mean only if you wanted to." Craig awkwardly touched his ears, usually he had his chullo on, which hid them from view.

"I want to!" Tweek spoke up, his huge eyes stared into Craig's; his expression were a mix of uncertainty and excitement.

"Y-yeah…" Craig felt his cheeks warm up, the way Tweek was staring into him was once again making him fluster. He then avoided Tweek's gaze in order to calm himself down.

"But r-really? Are y-you sure?"

"W-well you said you can't afford to watch so yeah I am...and I besides, I was the one who brought the "movie watching" topic up."

"Craig…"

"W-what?"

"You're amazing!" Tweek smiled.

Upon hearing what Tweek had said, and coupled with the very adorable smile that he gave him, Craig felt his heart skip a beat.

"N-no, I am not.."

"Haha, I am just copying what you said to me earlier." Tweek chuckled, Craig thought that it was the cutest thing and that if he died today he wouldn't mind, after seeing such a wonder.

"Oh uh, b-by the way...can I have your cellphone number?"

"M-my...cellphone number? W-why?"

"Well, earlier today I wanted to call you since I wanted to clarify where we would all meet up, but I realized that I don't have it, so I called Kenny instead...and well if w-were going to the movies then shouldn't we have some sort of contact with each other?" Tweek explained, there was a hint of embarrassment and panic in his voice but this went by unnoticed by Craig.

"Sure….but you'll give me yours too right?" Craig asked, he surprisingly had a calm face on but inside he was incredulous, he thought that it was surreal that Tweek would ask him for his number, when meanwhile he was too much of a pussy to ask Tweek for it himself.

"O-of course!"

The two then proceeded to exchange their numbers, Craig was ecstatic, earlier today he was bummed about not having Tweek's number but now he actually has it, why was life treating him so well today? Craig wondered.

"Hey guys! We're back" Kenny whose hair was dripping wet in sea water, said.

Craig took it back, life wasn't treating him well today...that was just a small distraction to the fact that he was actually having a bad time today. Kenny's face made him remember all the shit that went through earlier.

"Here, use this...you scared the hell out of me, I thought you died." Stan said as he took a towel from his bag and threw it towards Kenny.

"Aww, you care about me! Nah, I didn't die. Well I almost did but whatever...and besides even if I did you wouldn't remember anyway."

"What happened?"

"Kenny almost drowned, luckily the lifeguard saved him." Stan replied.

"And luckily the lifeguard was hot, her boobs jiggled as she ran to rescue me, It was sweet!"

"Hmm, maybe you should have drowned instead." Stan flatly uttered.

"Whatever dude, anyway what happened to you two? Any interesting development happening between you guys?" Kenny turned to Tweek and Craig as he dried off his hair with Stan's towel.

"Oh uh...we developed a sandcastle." Tweek answered.

"That's not the kind of development that I am talking about…"

"Oh."

Kenny turned to Craig who had a suspiciously calm face on, he had suspected that something juicy might have had happened between his OTP while they were gone; but there seems to be no signs of it at all.

"Craig, you gotta step up your game."

"Fuck off." Craig flipped him off, he was somewhat offended as he thought that he did step up his game and had gotten closer to Tweek, he got to share a moment building sandcastles with him, talk about his interests, exchanged numbers and hell he even got the balls to ask him out on a pseudo-date.

"U-um where's Clyde and Token?" Tweek spoke up.

"H-here we -gasp- a-re!" Token wheezed looking tired and horrible, bruises were all over his body, and next to him was Clyde who looked considerably worse than Token did. He clung to Token's arm and was limping quite a bit.

"Jesus, what the hell happened?" Craig exclaimed, worried about the state of his two best friends.

"I-it's a long story…" Clyde weakly said.

"Haha, it's actually not, we fought because Clyde was jealous; he was triggered by the fact that there were these two women who clung unto me earlier." Token laughed.

"Jealous of who exactly? Token or the girls?" Kenny teased.

An awkward silence then went by, Kenny didn't expect it...why was it awkward? Is something going on between these two too?

"I-it doesn't matter!" Clyde defensively said, his cheeks were tinted red, which made him look rather cute. A blushing Clyde is a rare sight, because usually he has no shame.

"Dude…"

Everyone stared at him quietly appreciating the unique event, Stan was the one who broke the silence when he felt something wet fall upon his arm.

"I think it's raining…"

The other boys stared at the sky, the clouds had turned a shade of deep gray; droplets of rain fell down increasingly.

"Oh god, everyone pack up and let's get back to the car." Token yelled, causing the boys to panic and grab all their stuff in a hasty manner. They then proceeded to run towards the car.

"I c-cant run, you injured my leg earlier you asshole!" Clyde spoke up.

"Oh yeah, crap I am sorry...I guess I'll just have to carry you."

"Huh?"

Token draped a towel over Clyde's head then grabbed him and carried him bridal style, he looked very impressive as he was also carrying his and Clyde's bags.

"Holy shit, Token, you're badass!" Kenny exclaimed.

"I know." Token smiled smugly.

"D-don't encourage him Kenny! He's not badass he's just showing off!" Clyde joined in.

The rain started pouring down hard, it was almost like monsoon, luckily the boys we're able to get inside the car with very minimal drench.

"That was a close." Stan said.

"Y-yeah it's raining pretty hard out there, we're lucky we were parked close, check out those other people who are still running away from rain, they're dripping wet." Kenny said as he peered at the window.

"It looks like it won't be stopping anytime soon...we should head back home." Token suggested.

"It's a shame that the rain cut our summer retreat short." Clyde muttered.

"But we had fun right?" Token asked.

"Hell yeah, I did! I got to see bouncing boobies!"

"I guess...it was decent." Stan contributed.

"Dude, you enjoyed it. You were even yelling out "I am Poseidon Stan, king of the sea!" earlier, so don't deny it." Kenny countered.

"S-shut up!" Stan blushed.

"I didn't have fun, I didn't get to pick up any chicks at all!" Clyde grumbled.

"Yeah, you were picked up by Token instead...literally though." Craig deadpanned.

"HE INJURED ME!"

"Dude, I am sorry! But you were the one who hurt me first!"

"I forgive you b-but, let's just never speak about that incident again." Clyde pouted, another blush was starting to form upon his cheeks.

"Oh, S-sure." Token said, a bit hesitation in his voice. "What about you Craig, Tweek, what did you do at the beach today? I didn't see you guys during the past few hours, did you just hung around under the umbrella?

"Craig and I- we built a sandcastle." Tweek replied politely.

"A sandcastle?" Clyde questioned.

"That's cool! I haven't built one of those since I was a kid! There's barely any sand in South Park, it's mostly snow." Token nodded, reminiscing his childhood.

"Dude, I can't imagine Craig building a sandcastle, it seems so surreal, although I guess he probably does have the patience to those kind of stuff." Kenny spoke up.

"He probably pushed all the work to Tweek.

"Yeah, I didn't do a lot, I mostly just gathered sand and water, Tweek did all the work, I can't do stuff like that."

"See, I was right, Craig didn't do shit." Clyde said conceitedly.

"Um yeah b-but Craig's amazing too! He took a picture of it and…" Tweek's eyes suddenly went wide as he stopped talking halfway…

"Yeah, Craig's pretty good with cameras, wait what's wrong Tweek? You looking for something?"

Before Tweek could answer to Token's query, Tweek exited the car. The heavy rain had not yet stopped, and a vicious outpour assaulted the poor boy.

"Tweek!" Kenny tried to stop him, but he was too late.

"It's raining hard out there, why did he suddenly get out of the car?" Stan asked worriedly.

"Did he left something in the beach?"

"He probably did, he was frantically checking his pockets and bags a minute or so ago.

"He should have brought an umbrella!" Clyde said.

"It's not just being wet that's the problem here Clyde, It's dangerous to go out near the beach right now, if it's raining hard out there then the sea level is going to rise and come to think of it the spot we stayed at earlier was pretty close to the beach."

"Oh Jesus, do you think Tweek is going to go there?"

"Is he going to be alright?"

"Aren't you idiots going to do something instead of just talking about him? Craig who was somewhat quiet throughout the conversation spoke up, he took a huge annoyed sigh and immediately got an umbrella from his back pack then got out of the car to try and find Tweek through the rain.

There was very little visibility with the strong winds and the fast downpour of rain, Craig felt both anger and worry towards the over caffeinated boy. What could be so important that Tweek had to do that he had to risk his safety for?

In the far distance, Craig could make out a blurry blob of yellow, a familiar shade of blonde that he knew oh too well.

"Tweek?" Craig yelled out, everything was blurry and cloudy and he could only make out parts of the beach, the rain made it hard for him to keep his eyes open wide enough.

Once he got close enough, Craig's vison got clearer revealing that the yellow blob was indeed Tweek, he was crouched down in the sand and seemed to be looking for something; his hair which was usually a fluffy blonde mess, was wet and slick with the rain. His white shirt that he wore clung unto his thin frame, and was almost transparent due to it being heavily drenched.

"Tweek get up, it's raining hard out here…we need to go back." Craig held out his umbrella towards the boy, who does not seem to care at all about the rain.

"I c-can't- I can't find it…" Tweek sniffed.

"What can't you find? Oh god w-wait are you crying…" Craig panicked, he looked around them, the sand was wet and clumpy, the originally white sands from earlier looked pale gray and dirty.

"I-I'll help you find…whatever it is just don't cry, okay?"

"No you don't have to, you've already done enough!"

"It'll be faster if we worked together!"

"B-but I…"

"Just let me help, okay?"

"Craig..."

"What did you lose?"

"You're going to be mad at me…"

"Mad? Me? I'm already mad, I am fucking pissed! Why did you leave all of the sudden? Do you know how much you made the others worry? How much you made me worry?"

"I-I am sorry."

"Just tell me what it is you lost, so that we can find it."

"…"

"Tweek."

"The polaroid."

"The polaroid? The picture of the sandcastle?

"Y-yes." Tweek nodded hesitantly.

"I-I see, let's look for it together." Craig replied, he could see as to why Tweek wanted get it back, he spent three hours making the thing only for it to be washed away by the rain, and the only memento of it was lost.

"You will? Aren't you mad?"

"I am mad at you for other things but not about that, you worked hard on that sandcastle so of course I'd understand that you'd want to find the only memory of it that it existed."

"T-that's not it!"

"Huh."

"I don't care about that fucking sandcastle, it's the photo itself that I care about."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a gift from you right?"

"A gift?"

"I am normally not this careless, I don't know why I am like this, I am so stupid… I should have kept it in a better place, and now I can't find it. And it's so frustrating, because you gave it to me. I was so happy to have received it, because it's from you Craig, and you…you're amazing and I dunno why you're so nice to me, I don't deserve it at all but you…you're just…, during the past few weeks, being around you was like one of the greatest feelings ever, for some reason when you're around me I kind of feel calmer, I have no idea why...but I like it, I like the feeling...I like you."

Craig looked at Tweek, his eyes were red from the crying; his nose and cheeks had a faint shade of pink on it. This boy, he ran out in the rain just to look for a picture that he took, was he really that amazing to Tweek? Does he like me as much as I like him? What exactly does that "I like you" from Tweek even mean? Was it a confession? Was it a platonic thing?

There were so many questions going through his mind but all Craig knew was that at this point he could no longer deny his attraction towards Tweek, he likes him...he likes him a lot. Regardless of whether those feelings are unrequited or not.

"It's alright...if that's the only thing you're worried about then I'll give you another one, I'll take a bunch of other pictures and give it all to you! Just don't...just don't cry." Craig patted Tweek's head, it was damp but Craig didn't mind.

"You're not mad at me for losing it?"

"No."

"..."

"I-it kinda feels like you're spoiling me a lot Craig, I feel really guilty." Tweek let out a quiet giggle, his eyes were still glassy from crying but he seemed to feel much better than before.

"Yeah, for some reason I can't help but do that, anyway let's go back...the others are probably worried too." Craig admitted, a blush creeping up in his cheeks.

"I s-should do something for you too! But I...I don't know what you would want from me."

Craig could list down all the stuff he wanted from Tweek, and he hated the fact that he could. But he finally admitted to himself earlier that he could no longer deny the attraction he felt towards the boy.

"And it's not like I could give you anything of value, I am broke after all…b-but I promise that someday, I'll give you something nice, something you'll like…Is that okay?"

"Sure, but you're presence is more than enough."

Craig smiled at Tweek, startling him. Tweek felt very warm despite being in the middle of an onslaught of rain.

"W-we should go back."

"Yeah, we should."

The two walked back, neither one of them said a word as they walked, when they eventually reached the car, they were met with the sight of Kenny and Token, who were each holding umbrellas.

"You guys are back! We were just about to go looking for you."

"Where did you run off to Tweek?" Kenny asked worriedly.

"I w-went off to find something I lost." Tweek nervously replied.

"Did you find it?"

"N-no…but it's okay, let's just go back, I am sorry for making you guys worry."

"I am just happy you're safe, Craig can go drown in the sea for all I care, but not you, you're too good for this world."

"Fuck you." Craig flipped Kenny off.

"It's a joke, I was worried about you too, you know! And I gotta admit that you were really cool back then when you decided to get out of the car to find Tweek." Kenny winked.

"Enough talking, you guys are drenched...change your clothes in the car, and let's get out of this place. Token said, he had a somewhat annoyed expression, similar to what a dad might have when faced with the stress of fatherhood.

And thus the Summer Retreat ended, it was a weird and wonderful event, but the guys each had their fun nonetheless. Tweek might have lost one thing but he instead gained a lot in return: new memories, closer friendships, realizations, Craig's cellphone number not to mention a cold.

"A-achoo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This wouldn't have happened if Craig wasn't such a hipster, and used a phone camera instead. smh


	10. Chapter 10: Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some unexpected bonding happens between two characters, plus a new character is introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A friendly warning, this chapter is kinda stupid.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/140873009@N06/29299784138/in/dateposted-public/)

Seven, two, zero, nine, one, two, three, one, eight, five, five, eleven.

Craig was currently lying in his bed, staring at his phone and repeating those numbers over and over again in his head, He had been doing such a thing for the past twenty minutes. By now he could probably recite them perfectly with his eyes closed but he still chose to stare at his phone's screen.

Written above the number that Craig so fondly kept staring at was the name "Tweek", and every time Craig's eyes would accidentally drift up and read that name, his heart would skip a beat and the memories of the event that occurred yesterday would come back to him.

Craig remembered how he got out of the car despite the heavy rain to find Tweek, it was surreal… everything felt hazy and blurry back then; and yet it's still very clear in his mind. He remembered the moment he realized that he really liked Tweek, and that he couldn't hide that fact anymore.

He let out a huge sigh, "I guess I really like him huh?" Craig shyly mumbled, his cheeks tinted with a light hint of red.

"Who do you like?"

"GAH!" Craig dropped his phone unto his face, hitting him square in the nose. After yelling out a pain-soothing "FUCK!" he turned to see who had disturbed him.

Tricia stared at Craig, playing with her strawberry blonde pigtails in a bored fashion, she had apparently gotten inside his room without him noticing; her face had a blank expression on, one that was frighteningly similar to her brother's.

"You fucking scared the crap out of me! What the hell are you doing in here?" Craig raised his voice, then rubbed his nose which was slightly red from the incident that had happened earlier.

"Wow rude much? Is that how you treat your adorable little sister? You're lucky you even get to bask in my presence you prick." Tricia pouted, then flipped her brother off, as is tradition in the Tucker Family.

"You're not adorable in any way, you're bratty and mean."

"Fuck you, Craig" Tricia said as she stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry, Craig had to admit that his sister was somewhat adorable when she gets childish like that but her personality was something that he couldn't tolerate very well.

"What do you want?"

"There's a weirdo downstairs looking for you, he claims to be your co-worker, Mom was yelling for you to come down for the past ten minutes now, but you weren't responding so she sent me to get you. What were you even doing? Were you masturbating?"

"Fuck no! Wait where the hell did you even learn that word?"

"Who cares, just go down and meet with your weirdo friend." Tricia nonchalantly shrugged then did a cute little skip as she exited Craig's room.

"Co-Worker? What the hell do any of those guys want now?" Craig wondered. It was early in the morning and Token had proposed that they don't open up the shop until tomorrow so that they could get some rest after the trip. He had no obligation to be with them at all today, he made no such plans to meet with anyone…unless you count…

"Tweek."

Craig hurriedly got up on his bed, changing out of his pajamas and frantically combing his hair, he then rushed to the bathroom to wash his face and hastily brush his teeth. He remembered the promise he made the blonde boy… the so called "date" at the movie theater. Perhaps it was him downstairs?

His cheeks felt warm at the thought of the date, he was nervous…to say the least. He wondered if he should change his clothes to something fancier, something impressive, perhaps he should wear his special Peruvian chullo? Or a tie? Or maybe some cologne? Would that be too overkill?

After about ten minutes or so, Craig finally came down from his room, he decided to go with his usual look of a blue jacket, blue chullo, black pants and black shoes. Craig thought that he shouldn't be too overly-impressive for the first date, he didn't want to look too eager after all, as it might turn Tweek off.

"I-I am here…" Craig nervously spoke up. He wondered once again if he looked alright, does he look presentable enough for Tweek?

"Oh dude, finally you're here…what took you so long? I swear I felt like I was waiting for a girl." The blonde teasingly said.

Kenny smiled at Craig cheerfully, he was sat at one of their sofas and seemed to be playing a mobile game to pass the time.

"Oh…It's just you."

Craig sighed then turned around 180 degrees, he wasn't the blonde that Craig was expecting, he was worrying a lot over nothing. So much for all that effort…not that he put much into it.

"I am going back to my room, Tricia go get rid of him."

"I am not doing your chores for you!" Tricia replied, she was sat at the sofa that was parallel to the one Kenny's sitting at.

"Hey, Hey, Hey why are you sending me out for you asshole? I made the effort to come and see you so can't you be a little bit hospitable?"

"Yes, you did…but I don't want to see you right now, to be honest."

"What? Were you expecting someone else? You're not expecting Tweek are you?"

Craig flinched when he heard what Kenny has said, he was pretty much right on target for that.

"Why were you expecting him to come? He's sick right now, don't be a dick Craig, let the poor guy rest."

"H-he's sick?"

"Wait, did Tweek not tell you? Hmm well no wonder...it's the reason why I went here in the first place, I wanted to check if you wanted to come with me and visit him."

"D-did he get sick because of the rain yesterday?"

"Probably."

"L-let's go there right now!" Craig said, unable to hide the worry in voice.

"Dude, calm down he just has a cold, don't panic..." Kenny assured Craig, looking at the other guy's expression Kenny sighed and smiled. "But yeah you're right we should go right now."

The two went out and started walking towards Tweek's house, an uncomfortable silence wrapped around them as they walked and their paces were different which resulted in a one feet distance between them.

"Are the others coming?" Craig spoke up, feeling slightly awkward around Kenny.

"I think Token, Clyde and Stan are going to visit him later in the afternoon." Kenny replied, unlike Craig he doesn't seem to be bothered by the other's presence at all.

"They all knew?"

"Yeah, Tweek told us about it in our group chat."

"You guys have a group chat? Without me?"

"Oh um...yeah it's strictly crew only, no managers allowed."

"But fucking Token is in it?

"Well technically he isn't a manager.

"I hate you."

"Hey I am not the one who came up with the idea, Clyde did."

"Oh, remind me to punch Clyde later okay?

"Hah, so much for best friends."

The two laughed and some of the awkwardness faded away, considering that Craig had always had this hostility towards Kenny, it was quite a rare event. Craig realized that he might have been too harsh on the guy. He had always hated Kenny and his gang but times had changed and Kenny probably isn't as bad as he used to remember. Come to think of it Stan and Kyle…aren't too bad either. Cartman is a different story though.

"Um sorry about earlier and uh thanks...for coming to get me, if you didn't visit then I wouldn't have known about Tweek."

"Woah! W-wait are you really Craig? Craig would never apologize to me...or thank me!"

"Fuck off, I am trying to be nice here."

"Ah yeah, you're Craig alright...I was scared for a second there."

"You're making me regret saying all those things."

"So uh…do you openly admit that you like him now? Why would you thank me for that? Is my ship finally going to be canon?"

"..." Craig blushed hard, yes he admits it now but should he tell Kenny about it? Considering his actions during the trip to the beach, Telling Kenny would be a big no but…

"Y-yeah…" Craig took the risk, Kenny was quite close to Tweek, and he seems to be openly supportive of the fact that he likes him, hell he was the one who instigated the fact that he might like Tweek in the first place.

"Well it's a start...so did something happen to you guys during our trip?"

"K-kinda."

"Was it sexual?"

"N-no!"

"Yeah I figured, you don't have the balls to be that forward."

"..."

"What?"

"C-can you help me? With Tweek, I mean...like how can I be closer to him? And how to talk to him and stuff." Craig nervously played with the string of his jacket, he slightly hated the idea that he's asking Kenny for help but he's willing to work with him if it means that it will get him closer to that jittery blonde boy that he oh so adores.

"You want me to be your wingman? What the hell...why me? Why not ask Clyde or Token? They're your best friends."

"You're closer to Tweek than any of those two. It's annoying that I am asking you for this but I have no choice. W-wait what the hell is with that reaction anyway? Weren't you the one who was pushing the thought that I might like him in the first place? This is all your fault! Take responsibility! Unless...y-you…YOU like him d-don't you? You were insisting that I was the one who likes him but in reality it's you, you're a sneaky bastard who wants Tweek for himself, no wonder you're so clingy to him...you sly son of a-" Craig uncharacteristically let out a spiel only for it to be interrupted by Kenny.

"Jesus, Craig shut up! Man you're a fucking mess. Is this how you really are? Is the deadpan stoicism just a facade? I think it's the first time I've ever heard you talk that long."

"Dude, I know...I turn into a bumbling stuttery mess whenever I talk to him or even think of him, well sometimes it's okay but most of the time I can't get my shit together. THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE HELP ME!" Craig gripped Kenny's parka shaking the other guy frantically.

"Alright, alright jeez...I'll help you. But lemme clear some things first okay? I do like the thought of you guys being together, I wasn't lying back then when I said it back then. Tweek is like a little brother to me so I can never look at him in a romantic way, and besides he's blonde and In my opinion, it would be really weird if two blondes date. Second, it's not like I don't want to help you but Token and Clyde are your friends, they should be the people that you're telling about all these things to first, do they know yet?"

"N-no."

"Well you need to tell them sooner or later, they would be a much better support team than I am."

"Y-yeah you're right…I should probably tell them."

"You do that…well anyway there's Tweek's house, that purple one over there. By the way Tweek's mom is really hot, like she's a milf of epic proportions, Oh God, I hope she's home right now."

"Do you always frequent Tweek's house?"

"Not that much, I've only been there three times since I first met him."

The two stopped in front of Tweek's home, it was surprisingly standard looking, similar to his and pretty much most of the residents of South Park's home, Craig thought that with all the talk of bankruptcy and debt, Tweek would be in the same living conditions as the orange clad blonde walking next to him.

Kenny gently pressed the doorbell, a pleasant ringing soon followed. Craig felt a bit anxious, it's the first time that he's going to see Tweek's house, he wondered what his room looked like and how we he was doing, he was sick after all.

Soon enough, the door opened, Kenny and Craig were greeted by the sight of a small blonde boy, around the same height as Tweek or maybe even slightly shorter. He had on a frilly pink apron tied to his waist, and in his right hand he held a soup ladle."

"Oh H-hello, how can I help you fellas?" The small boy asked.

Pure silence was the only reply that Craig and Kenny had to offer, Craig looked to Kenny hoping he'd answer the other boy's question but he seemed to be frozen in place, Craig felt annoyed that he would have to be the one to speak up.

"U-uh yeah...we're here to visit T-Tweek, were his co-workers."

"R-really? That's wonderful! Come on in!" The small blonde ushered, Craig felt slightly worried about how trusting the boy was, a criminal could have easily told that lie and he would have let him in.

As the two went inside they were greeted by the sight of Tweek's living room, it was...spacious or rather empty...there were only a few sofas, a coffee table and no T.V. Craig felt that the lack of any decorative furniture is kind of depressing.

"Riiiiiiing Riiiiiing" The sound of a telephone echoed through the house, catching the attention of the three boys.

"Oh uh please wait here for a moment, I am just going to answer that, feel free to sit over there." The small apron-wearing blonde left to go to what Craig assumed was the kitchen, leaving Kenny and him alone in the living room.

"Was that Tweek's little brother?" Craig asked Kenny, whilst trying to recall if Tweek had ever mentioned that he had one before.

"..."

"He kinda looked like him, well not really but he's blonde…"

"..."

"What the hell is up with you? You haven't said anything since we got here."

"..."

"Kenny?"

"..."

"Hey fuckface, snap out of it!" Craig who was annoyed by the lack of response from Kenny decided to slap him in the face.

"OW! Jesus fuck! What the hell?!" Kenny yelled out, rubbing his cheek which still stung from Craig's slap.

"You weren't responding...what in the world happened to you?"

"D-dude...I think I am in love." Kenny shyly mumbled, his face was tinged with red but it wasn't from the slap.

"What?"

"In the eighteen years of my life I've never thought that I'd see the day where I meet the person who would make my heart soar and flutter."

"Y-you're creeping me out Kenny..."

"D-d-do I look okay? I look hot right? I look gorgeous? Will I be able to win him over with my looks?" Kenny put down his hood and ruffled his hair then turned to Craig who seemed to be very disturbed by Kenny's actions.

"By him d-do you mean…that guy earlier?"

"He's so fucking cute dude, I-I can't think of anything lustful to say about him, just seeing him is like injecting pure saccharin into my system, and I don't even know who he is…"

"You don't know who he is? Isn't he Tweek's brother? W-wait...you just said earlier that a blonde dating a blonde would be weird and now you're all over him, what's with the sudden change?

"That was before I met him! H-he, he's like an angel that descended from the heavens changing my view for the better! He's like a light that shines among the dusk and dread of this world. My opinions were foolish but seeing him made me realize that trivial things such as hair color does not matter when it comes to love." Kenny rambled, which made Craig feel slightly scared.

"H-hey fellas, sorry about that...Tweek's mom asked me to take care of him, and the one who called earlier was her, she was just checking up on him. Anyways you guys ready to visit Tweek?" The small blonde boy returned, smiling ever so sweetly, Craig felt relieved when the boy returned as Kenny was starting to get real disturbing earlier.

"So you aren't Tweek's little brother?" Kenny spoke up.

"Oh n-no, just his friend, or maybe I guess his best friend? We used to be buddies in school and we once worked together as waiters at Bennigan's, b-but that didn't go so well…Oh hamburgers, I haven't introduced myself yet haven't I? I am Butters, Butters Stotch." Butters once again smiled sweetly, Craig then heard a faint yet audible "So cute" from Kenny, he decided to ignore it.

"I am Craig Tucker." Craig replied promptly.

Butters and Craig both looked to Kenny, awaiting his introduction. He took a deep inhale then with the suavest and coolest voice he could manage, said: "Hello there my sweet buttercup, my name is Kenneth McCormick, a pleasure to meet you." Kenny then grabbed one of the shorter blonde's hands then gently kissed it.

Craig wanted to smack the back of Kenny's head just for that action, but he then remembered that he was helping him with Tweek, Craig decided that it'll be best to just behave for now and keep his rage to himself.

"Nice to meet you, Craig and Kenneth! Well let's head on up shall we?" Butters cheerfully said as he completely ignored Kenny's flirting, either that or it went over his head, this thought pleased Craig.

The three went upstairs and into Tweek's room, it was as empty as the living room was, only a bed, a cabinet and a desk was inside it, the only thing that was remotely interesting were a tower of Legos in the center of the room.

"I actually cleaned up around here, there were a bunch of empty coffee cups and newspapers earlier, Tweek can be really messy sometimes." Butters chuckled.

Resting on the bed was Tweek, he seemed to be sleeping soundly, his cheeks were red from the fever, and in the corner of his closed eyes; watery tears would form.

"He's still asleep, maybe we should get back down, I guess you can wait here too but it might be a while." Butters whispered.

"O-oh I know! I'll pour some juice for you guys, while you wait!" Butters said, he then quickly went down in a hurry.

Kenny and Craig both looked at each other and nodded, they both understood what the other had planned to do, Kenny gave a salute to Craig saying "I hope it goes well for you up here, my brother…" Craig thought that the salute was stupid but he nonetheless did it too. "You too…may your efforts go well...my brother." They then both walked closer to their respective blonde target of affection, with Kenny going downstairs to see Butters and Craig looking over to check on Tweek.

Behold the magnificent bond of two idiots trying to woo their very own blonde twink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I actually had to research what the format of US mobile phones are, since I am not from there, it's very confusing, but I tried. Also I hid a secret little message in Tweek's phone number, it's not that hard to decode, I am sure you guys can do it! Well only if you want to.
> 
> Also sorry for the typos and mistakes.


	11. Chapter 11: Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Kenny and Butters bonding, plus Craig being a creepy creeper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Regarding the secret behind the phone number from the last chapter it's just a simple number to letter cipher. Here's the answer:
> 
> Tweek's phone number is (720) 912 318 5511
> 
> 720 is just an area code for Colorado, It isn't really part of the puzzle or Tweek's actual cellphone number. The numbers corresponds to the order that the letter appears in the alphabet.
> 
> 9 - I, 12 - L, 3 -C, 18 - R, 5 -E, 5-E, 11-K= IL Creek
> 
> The secret message is "I love Creek" or just "Creek" if you disregard the IL part.
> 
> Anyway sorry for this obtrusive author's note, feel free to ignore this and please enjoy reading.

Kenny watched as the orange liquid poured into the glass, the rhythmic glugs that occurred as the juice flowed from the bottle seemed calming to him.

He then looked at Butters whose eyes were focused on the drink. The determination in his blue eyes made it seem like pouring orange juice into a glass was a very hard task. Kenny couldn't help but admire him for such a thing...even if it's just pouring juice.

"U-uh hey Kenneth, Can I ask you something?"

"Huh?" Kenny was startled, he had almost forgotten about the fact that he had introduced himself using his full name, looking back…Kenny thought that his earlier introduction was absolutely idiotic, he was trying too hard, and that went against his code of playing it cool…

"Uh…you can call me Kenny, Kenneth sounds too formal, and besides I don't look like a Kenneth do I?"

"Hmm...Kenny does seem to fit you better, but I think you're cool enough to be a Kenneth too!"

"Is that so? You think I am cool?" Kenny grinned, thinking that perhaps his chance with Butters was greater than he thought.

"Yup, I think you are!" Butters nodded cheerfully, Kenny felt glad, he was happy with the fact that Butters seemed to have a good opinion of him so far.

"Thanks you're pretty cool yourself…by the way I think your name suits you too, your hair looks like butter."

"Y-yeah I get that all the time." Butters touched his hair timidly, feeling slightly self-conscious.

"I wasn't making fun of you or anything...Butters is a cute name, it's a very fitting name for someone as adorable as you." Kenny winked, then flashed a heart-robbing smile, unfortunately it didn't seem to faze Butters at all as his only response was to blink and tilt his head questioningly. It wasn't the reaction that Kenny was hoping to get from the other boy, but he still thought that it was insanely cute.

"D-do you have something in your eye there, Kenny?"

"No." after realizing that once again his flirting didn't work, Kenny felt a bit disappointed.

"Oh okay." Butters smiled innocently, Kenny would have to think of a different way to get to him, seeing as all his attempts at flirting doesn't seem to work.

"I think the fact that our parents are the ones to choose our names is kind of unfair, cause sometimes people end up getting stupid ones. You kinda get stuck with it forever...I guess unless you have it changed but you can never change the fact that it wasn't your original."

"You don't like the name 'Butters'?"

"Oh no, I don't mind being called Butters, it's a nickname that I grew up with. It's my real name that I am bothered about, it's ugly-sounding and gosh darn stupid so I hate being called that."

"Wait...Butters isn't your real name? What is it then? Surely it can't be that bad." Kenny felt curious.

"O-oh uh gee it's pretty embarrassing, but I suppose I should tell you since you asked. My real name is actually 'Leopold', it's a dumb name right? Kinda sounds like a name that an eighty year old grandpa would have.

"Leopold?"

"Yeah, I don't know what Mom and Dad where thinking when they named me." Butters pondered, biting his lip.

"Dude, Tweek's got it worse."

"Oh y-yeah, well I guess maybe that's why we're friends...because we both have weird names. Butters giggled, and boy did Kenny want to take out his phone and record the moment, but of course that would have been too weird so he recorded the memory with his brain instead.

"Speaking of Tweek, I was actually going to ask you something about him earlier but we kinda got sidetracked..."

"I am sorry that was my fault, what did you want to ask?"

"U-uh actually I guess this is more about Craig…"

"Craig?" Kenny questioned.

"Yes, I was wondering...Is he and Tweek close?"

"Huh? Well I guess they kind of are, they are co-workers after all." Kenny scratched his chin, in reality he wasn't quite sure how close those two were. Kenny only knew about Craig's feelings but not Tweek's.

"No, I mean a-are they like…" Butters motioned both his left and right index finger together and pressed it close. "Dating?"

"O-oh...well no, they aren't." Kenny was surprised, he wondered how Butters came to that thought.

"Ah I am sorry it's my bad for assuming things. It's just because earlier when I was checking up on Tweek I heard him call out the name 'Craig' when he was sleeping...I was wondering who might that be but then you guys came; and when we went upstairs Craig seemed to be really worried about Tweek so I thought that you know…maybe they're together."

"Tweek was calling for Craig in his sleep?" Kenny felt delighted by that fact, perhaps Craig's attraction isn't one-sided after all.

"Y-yeah, it surprised me too…but you know, Tweek seemed to be really happy when he called for him, perhaps he was having a nice dream with Craig in it..." Butters smiled fondly at the thought.

"So you ship them too huh?"

"Ship?" Butters looked at Kenny with a confused expression.

"Uh nevermind...You wanna hear a secret?"

"A s-secret? Um sure..."

"The truth is...Craig likes Tweek. That dude has the biggest fucking crush on your friend."

"O-oh."

"And I am actually helping him win Tweek over right now, so that little tidbit of information that you gave me is pretty helpful. It kinda gives us the hope that Tweek might like him back."

"So you're playing cupid? That's awfully nice of you to do such a thing."

"Nice? Well maybe...but I mean it's a personal thing too...I take pleasure in seeing them together, and hopefully if I am successful then they'll be happy with each other."

"How admirable! I wish I could do that too...helping people with their relationships and stuff. But I think I'll just get in the way so I'll just root for you guys from afar." Butters smiled once more, Kenny resisted the urge to tackle him with a hug...it was a hard task but he did it.

"O-oh, you can help...if you want, I mean I thought I was close to Tweek but you seem much closer to him than I do. We're not going to force him to like Craig or anything...I just need you to observe him and tell me Tweek's opinion of him and stuff."

"R-really it's alright for me to help? Well uh gee, that sounds swell…o-okay, I'll do it!"

"Great! Want to exchange phone numbers so we can contact each other?" Kenny grinned, what a sly guy he was to use Tweek and Craig' relationship as an excuse in order to get Butters' phone number, but then again Butters would be a really good help in getting those two together so why not kill two birds with one stone right?

"Okay!" Butters agreed.

Kenny stared as Butters typed his number on his phone, although he was successful in obtaining his cellphone number, Kenny still didn't know how to actually woo him over as his usual method of flirting doesn't seem to work on Butters at all…

"Here you go!" Butters handed Kenny's phone back, poor kid is probably unaware of all the porn sites that phone has been to. He probably needs to wash his hands afterwards.

"Thanks, Leo." Kenny said in a laid back manner, as he shifted his attention to his phone in order to save Butters' cell phone number.

"N-no problem…" Butters blushed nervously, which sadly went by unnoticed by the orange clad boy, if he did then he would have probably already pounced on the smaller blonde by now.

Butters felt weird being called a different name, he was so used to 'Butters' that the name Leopold seemed foreign to him; more so is Leo. But in the recesses of his mind he was quite happy about the fact that Kenny called him that, it was like a personal little nickname that he thought of just for him, Butters didn't know why...but for some reason this made his heart flutter. And oh how great it could have been If Kenny knew about this fact.

* * *

Craig was in a very dangerous situation. He didn't realize it before but about twenty seconds after Kenny and Butters left, he found himself thinking that there was something very wrong in his current scenario.

He was alone, in a mostly empty room with his object of affection…Tweek was lying in his bed about five feet away from him, sleeping defenselessly.

So if he wanted, he could probably…

Craig bit his lip, should he do it? It was a once in a lifetime chance...it would be a huge waste if he let this opportunity pass by.

With a nervous gulp, Craig decided to himself...that he should definitely do it.

He sat down unto Tweek's bed, his heart pounding whilst beads of sweat formed upon his forehead, he then gingerly grabbed the phone in his pocket. Craig then stopped to look around his surroundings, making sure Kenny and Butters were nowhere in sight. After deciding that the coast is clear, he then proceeded to take a picture of Tweek's sleeping face.

Craig couldn't help but smile at the fact that he was able to successfully take the picture. He wondered for a bit if he should make it his phone wallpaper but then ultimately decided that it would be best not to as it would have been too creepy...but let's be honest here, he already is creepy for taking a picture of Tweek's face without the blonde boy's knowledge.

He once again looked at Tweek, watching as his chest softy rise and fall with each breath, his cheeks were reddish from his high temperature and his pale lips were parted slightly due to difficulty breathing through his nose, his occasional exhales of breath produced a very faint but sweet sounding sigh...it almost seemed erotic.

Craig blushed, as a wave of indecent thoughts soon filled his head, he didn't want to succumb to it...but the fact that Tweek was vulnerably sleeping in front of him...made it hard to do so. It felt as if someone was testing his restraint.

With all of his might, Craig look away, he decided that the only way to curb his rather impure thoughts was to ignore Tweek and shift his attention to somewhere else.

Craig turned his gaze back to his phone, the picture of Tweek's sleeping face was still displayed on his screen, he smiled at it fondly but that smile soon faded as Craig realized how stupid he was looking at the image when the real one was right next to him.

After much deliberation on whether or not he should look at Tweek again, he decided to be ballsy and indulge his desires.

He crept closer to Tweek, being very careful as to not wake him up, he then gently poked the blonde boy's cheeks with his index finger. It was soft to the touch and very warm.

Craig felt unsatisfied with just a single poke, he decided that he wanted to touch him more...he brought out his whole hand then gently caressed the whole right side of Tweek's face, his thumb gingerly playing with the smaller boy's lips.

The warmth of Tweek's breath touched the tip of Craig's thumb which made his heart beat fast, a thought suddenly ran through his mind...

That he could very easily kiss him right now.

But as much as he wanted to, there were a lot of things to consider...what if someone caught him doing such a thing? What if Tweek wakes up? What exactly happens after the kiss? Will he be able to control himself? Or would pure Id take over him and…

Craig stopped himself from continuing that thought, he felt creepy for thinking of such a thing, he couldn't believe that he could have these thoughts...for a guy...for Tweek.

These thoughts pretty much cemented the fact that he really does like him, he already knew that he did...but this just added a new layer of feelings that Craig had for Tweek that he never knew he could have. If there were any trace of platonic intent before then this thought completely obliterated it.

"C-Craig?"

A weak voice called out which pulled Craig back into reality, he was lost in his thoughts but thanks to that small voice he came back to his senses.

"H-huh?" Craig looked to see where the voice was coming from; a very weak looking Tweek stared upon him, his half-lidded eyes had a somewhat hazy look in them.

"Is that really you? I am not dreaming am I?" Tweek asked, whilst slowly rubbing one of his eyes.

"T-tweek...you're awake." Craig awkwardly replied.

"Y-yeah I just woke up...umm wait why are you touching my face?" Tweek pointed to the hand that Craig was currently holding Tweek's face with.

"Huh? O-oh god...sorry!" Craig immediately withdrew his hand from Tweek's face, he couldn't help but blush hard. And while it wasn't the worst thing that Tweek could have caught him doing, he still thought that it was still very embarrassing.

"I-I was just checking your temperature and I think y-you're really h-hot...shit no, no, no that's not what I mean oh god….y-you're uh...y-you're warm! Yeah that's it! I think you still have a fever." Craig stuttered, yes there was no denying the fact that he was an absolute mess.

"I do?" Tweek sat up, and touched his face, wondering if he was indeed warm.

"Y-yeah…"

"Don't be silly Craig, you don't check for a person's temperature by just touching their face, you press your foreheads together like so…" Tweek giggled weakly as he pulled Craig over and pressed his forehead with the taller boy's.

Craig felt dazed over the warmth that Tweek emitted, their noses brushed together and there was only about an inch of space separating their lips apart.

"Y-y-you're still warm…you do have a fever…" Craig tried his best to keep calm, but he was flustered as hell right now. He kept his eyes closed as looking directly into the blonde's eyes during their current situation would have been way too much for him.

"Craig...why do I feel weird when you're around?"

"H-huh?"

"Remember when I said that I like you? I meant is a friend b-but…but it feels different somehow, it's a different type of like...I've never felt it before or for the others, I've only felt it for you."

"Uh ..I."

"What makes you so special Craig? Why am I so happy when I am with you?"

"Tweek...I uh…" Craig's heart was racing, from the things that Tweek was saying he could guess easily where this was going…and he very much hoped that his guess was right.

"Yesterday, I couldn't sleep because I was thinking of you…and I finally realized why I am having all this weird feelings, I-I thought it was stupid at first but there's no denying it…"

Craig gulped bracing for the impact.

"I-I think you're an assassin that was sent out by someone to kill me, you've probably been poisoning my coffee that's why my heart has been beating way too fast lately..."

"What."

"Y-you're being nice to me to get on my good side but I know darn well that you're only doing so...so you could kill me right? how d-dare youuuu…" Tweek slurred, Craig suddenly realized that Tweek was probably groggy and disoriented from his illness and medicine and that had no idea what he was talking about.

"I trusted youuu Craiggg!" Tweek started sobbing, Craig thought that he looked and sounded drunk rather than sick, nevertheless he of course found Tweek to look adorable in his state.

"Dude, I am not an assassin, you're not thinking straight right now, you should get some more sleep."

"Noooo, stay away from meeee" Tweek weakly protested.

"Tweek, you need to rest." Craig grabbed him by the arms in order to calm him down, he felt worried for the blonde, although there was the lingering feeling of disappointment by the fact that he didn't get the confession that he was expecting…Craig felt that it was top priority that Tweek gets better.

"B-but even if you are an assassin that's out to get me...I still like you." Tweek mumbled softly as he weakly collapsed into Craig's arms, his head resting on Craig's shoulders. Tweek was still in no condition to talk as his fever seemed to cloud up his mental process causing for him to say some really strange sentences.

Craig sighed, and tucked Tweek back into bed, he should probably go home for now and let the poor boy rest, He'd just be bothering Tweek if he stayed there and not to mention the fact that he has been having some rather sexual thoughts on the sleeping Tweek. It just wasn't the right time.

After turning off the lights to Tweek's room, Craig then attempted to walk out of the door...but not before succumbing to at least one bit of his desire and quickly kissing Tweek lightly on the cheek.


	12. Chapter 12: Marketing Strategies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tweek's all better but everything is awkward between him and Craig again.

"Tweek? Are you awake? It's morning!"

Blinding rays of sun came in contact upon Tweek's face as Butters gently opened the window's curtains. Feeling uncomfortable by the prickling warmth, the sleepy blonde decided to take cover under his blankets, refusing to acknowledge the other boy inside his room.

"Oh jeez, you look really nice and cozy all bundled up in your covers like that but...Tweek you're not sick anymore are you? I checked your temperature and it's gone back to normal."

"..."

"No response huh? Come on now buddy, don't be like that! You have responsibilities to do, you should get back to work since you're all dandy and fine now!

"..."

"Tweeeeek! You have to go to work!" Butters walked up to the sleeping boy, forcefully pulling away the blanket from his friend.

Tweek however, wouldn't budge and once again ignored the other boy. He knew very well that he was very much fit to work and that his illness had long since been cured but he didn't feel like waking up just yet...especially since he had been having such a wonderful dream before Butters decided to wake him up.

"Tweek, come on! You can't stay in bed again! You're already well! You need to get to work to earn money remember?"

"..."

Tweek responded with more silence, he really wanted to continue his pleasant dream.

"If you keep sleeping and refuse to go to work you're going to be to sold to slavery you know?" Butters threatened.

"I-I am not going to be sold to slavery!" Tweek replied, his tone of voice sounded slightly annoyed yet slightly in a panic...despite the denial he knew very well that his friend was right.

Tweek huffily sat up and crossed his arms, feeling kind of pissed that he would had to give up on that dream that he was trying hard to get back to. And besides he kinda forgot what it was all about anyway...all he remembers is that it's pleasant.

"Good, you're finally up...you can't be a functioning member of society if you stay in bed all day."

"Ugh."

"Anyway I have to go back home, Dad's been texting me non-stop saying that if I don't return before eight, I'd be grounded...but I kinda got the feeling that he'd still ground me anyway once I go back home. O-oh and I made breakfast, it's on the table downstairs."

Tweek turned his gaze to Butters, who had a warm and cheerful smile on. He suddenly felt guilty over being such an uncooperative brat earlier. Butters is an awesome friend, not everyone is willing enough to take care of their sick friend just like that; Butters continued to smile and be kind to him no matter how bad he acted and Tweek deeply appreciates this gesture.

"O-oh thanks, I am sorry about earlier I guess I got way too used to sleeping in, it's stupid of me to ignore my responsibilities."

"No, no I understand...we all have those days where we just want to sleep in right? Oh uh... I won't be staying for breakfast though. I need to leave right away, Ah but gee don't worry as I'll visit you at the coffee shop later on."

Tweek perked up upon hearing what his friend had said.

"Really you will? That would be awesome! O-oh wait...do you even know where it is? I don't recall ever mentioning where it's located..."

"Um well yeah you never told me but that's fine since Kenny told me where it's located. It's at your father's old branch right?"

"Yeah it is...W-Wait how did you? How do you know who Kenny is? I never told you about him!"

"Oh uh he visited the other day, along with your other Co-workers."

"M-my co-workers? You m-mean…my dream is...uh I m-mean did a tall guy wearing a chullo visit too?"

"Y-you mean Craig? Yeah he did! He even visited you in your room. But he immediately left and didn't wait for you to wake up, actually some others visited you too...Clyde, Stan and Token...I think their names was."

"Y-you mean...that wasn't a dream?"

"What?"

"Um I…"

Tweek touched his chin, deep in thought as memories of his dream...or was it reality? Came flooding back to him. It was mostly hazy but the memory of one particular scene which involved him pressing his forehead against Craig seemed to be more vivid in his mind, which Tweek thought was extremely embarrassing.

He could also vaguely remember talking to Craig. Tweek tried hard to recall what he had said, deeply hoping that it wasn't anything worth being embarrassed about.

Butters stared at his friend, the other blonde was deep in thought. He slightly regretted the fact that he had told about the others' visit considering that Tweek seem to not be very comfortable about it.

"O-oh...o-oh no…" Tweek suddenly spoke up, stuttering and nervously pulling on his hair. His face was beet red and his expression was that of sudden realization and panic

"W-what's wrong?"

"I d-don't want to go to work today…"

"What!? Why?"

"It's just...I don't wanna see C-Craig today." Tweek looked away from Butters, he felt weird saying Craig's name.

"Craig? Why? Do you have something against him?" Butters was worried, he hoped Tweek didn't dislike the guy. He and Kenny wants to hook the two up after all.

"I just r-remembered something very embarrassing happening during his visit and well...I-I don't think I can ever face him again after all that."

"W-what b-but he's your boss! You can't avoid him if you want to keep your job!"

"B-but...it's..."

"Tweek! Stop making excuses and get to work!" Butters yelled out angrily. Despite looking mad he looked more like an angry cute puppy. Yet for some reason it still scared Tweek.

"G-gah! o-okay...jeez."

Tweek sighed, he really did need to work...even if it was embarrassing for him to meet Craig again he can't just hole himself up at his house and avoid him forever, with another sigh he stood up from his bed.

"I am going to work…"

* * *

"Tweeeeeeeeeeeek!"

A loud voice welcomed Tweek as soon as he opened the store's doors. Clyde happily greeted the twitchy boy with a tight hug.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Y-yeah I am…"

Overhearing the commotion, Kenny and Stan walked up to the two boys, both looked glad to have Tweek back.

"I am glad you're back, Clyde should have been the one to have gotten sick, It's hard without you around...Clyde is just plain useless." Stan spoke up.

"Hey!"

"Well Stan's right, but to be honest business is still pretty slow anyway so it's not like we suffered a lot, Clyde's uselessness is fine for now." Kenny chuckled.

"We still don't have any customers?"

"There were a few...but for the most part, the store has been empty."

"Yeah, Token even wanted to have a meeting about it...and speaking of the devil there he is!" Stan pointed to Token who was walking towards them with a smile on, behind him was Craig who had on a blank expression on his face.

"Oh finally, you're back...everyone really missed you, you know? So anyway how are you feeling?"

"I-I am feeling better. I am sorry for getting sick and n-not being able to work."

"It's fine don't apologize...these things happen and well there isn't really much work anyway."

"Y-yeah I've heard…"

"So what are we going to do about that Token?" Stan questioned.

"Well...that's why I wanted to have a meeting, I need suggestions on how to pull in more customers, if this keeps up this shop's going to get bankrupt." Token replied, looking deep in thought.

"I think it's fine like this…" Craig spoke up.

"Yeah me too! It's fun when there's not much to do!"

Token angrily clicked his tongue then hit his two friends on the back of their heads.

"Oww….hey that hurt!

"What the fuck token?!"

"Are you guys idiots? I refuse to get bankrupt...Clyde if there are no customers then I am going to start charging you for eating the leftover pastries. And Craig for fucks sake you're the manager….you're supposed to be the one who's thinking up of a solution for this."

"Well that's what you get for hiring us…" Craig muttered.

"I was helping you, you ungrateful asshole!"

"I am just saying…" Craig shrugged.

"H-hey come on now, no need to fight! We'll figure things out!" Kenny chimed.

"Hmm, I wonder what kind of gimmick we should do to get more customers?"

"How about we serve coffee shirtless?" Clyde spoke up.

"Working naked while in contact with all sorts of boiling hot liquid is dangerous...and besides nobody but you wants to see you shirtless." Stan rebutted.

"But I have abs!"

"We're not serving coffee while shirtless Clyde."

"Aww."

"Does anyone else have any ideas?"

"I heard that people enjoy going to places that have some sort of entertainment on them." Craig contributed.

"What do you mean?"

"Like you know how some bars and clubs have bands and stuff playing? Kinda like that I guess..."

"That reminds me of the comedy club that Jimmy sometimes performs at! They had the best nachos!" Clyde reminisced, drooling at the thought of those extremely cheesy nachos.

"Yeah kinda like that...maybe we can do something similar and...no wait I've thought of something even better! We should have an open mic event and we could invite local performers who want to promote their stuff, they could do it here for free and in return we could have entertainment without the need to pay for anything, it's kind of a win-win."

"Well, well, well...Look at you Craig, suggesting all those ideas like a real manager, not bad, not bad at all." Token teased.

"S-shut up!"

"I agree...it's not a bad idea, let's do that! We could even set up posters all over town so that people will know!" Kenny nodded.

"Alright it's settled, we'll do an open mic event. I'll work on getting as a stage and some props, You guys handle getting the performers and the advertising." Token said, as he walked towards the exit, there was a certain twinkle in his eye which hinted great excitement. "I am going to start getting those stuff...see you guys later."

"H-hey don't leave so…" Before Clyde could even finish his sentence, Token left and abandoned the other boys."

"Well someone's excited…" Stan commented.

"So what about the advertising and stuff?"

"Uh I am not really good with art so don't count on me making posters." Stan admitted.

"How about you Tweek?"

"H-huh me? W-well I am not good at it either...but I do have a friend who's good with those kind of things."

"Really? Who?"

"Um, well you actually know him Kenny...it's Butters."

"Oh...THAT'S GREAT! Can we ask him to help us?" Kenny felt giddy, excited by the thought that his object of affection might be able to help them.

"Well he said he was going to visit me here today, so yeah I guess…"

"Wait what!? He's visiting?! Oh god you should have told me sooner...I need to prepare myself let's see...I need a comb, some cologne and a toothbrush." Kenny said as he frantically rushed to the bathroom.

"What's with him?" Stan asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, long story...well not really but I'd rather not talk about it." Craig sighed.

"Huh...well whatever, I am going back to the register, our meeting's over isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Stan nodded then walked back to the counter producing a book out of nowhere and reading it with a bored expression.

"Aww man, the meeting is over? Now I have to get back to work that's no fun…" Clyde pouted as he grumpily trudged to the storage room.

Craig and Tweek were left alone. A deafening and awkward silence lingered around them. Craig had been waiting for this chance, he wanted to be alone with Tweek once more, he really wanted a follow up on that "date" thing. He had been waiting patiently for Tweek to get better for the past two days, and in his mind he had already planned all sorts of things that they could do and questions that he should ask in order to get closer to him.

"So uh...about the movi-"

"Umm I s-should go help Clyde out…" Tweek hastily replied, whilst trying hard to avoid Craig's gaze. The lack of comfort was very visible in his face,

"Huh? There's no need to-"

"I-I gotta go!"

"W-what?! No Tweek, w-wait!"

Tweek however, ignored Craig and followed Clyde to the storage room. His cheeks were flushed and his heart was beating fast. Seeing Craig reminds him of. "That" and he really didn't want to remember it.

Meanwhile Craig was left standing there. Feeling disappointed that Tweek left him in the air. He wondered what had happened? Didn't their relationship grew closer during the summer retreat? Tweek even asked him for his number. Then why was he avoiding him now? Did he do something wrong? What was it then? Everything was fine until…

"O-oh…"

Craig remembered the memory of his visit from the other day. Tweek was sick and lying in bed. He was so adorable that Craig couldn't resist the urge to kiss him on the cheek...could that have been the reason why Tweek wanted to avoid him? Was he awake during that time?

"I fucked up didn't I?"

Craig sighed to himself. Wondering what he should do to get Tweek to like him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A lackluster chapter I know, but I needed a set up for a future scene. Anyways thanks for reading!


	13. Chapter 10: Bunny and Clyde

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Bunny scenes and Clyde shenanigans...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Someone left me an ask on tumblr and said some pretty nice things so I got the energy to continue writing this again, well it's not like I didn't want to but I was really busy...anyway to that anon who left the ask, this chapter is dedicated to you!

 

Thud

Thud

Thud

Tap

Thud

Thud

Thud

Tap

The repeated sounds of "thuds and taps" echoed all throughout the empty coffee shop as Craig anxiously drummed his fingers on top of the table. He had a sour look upon his face and his eyebrows were furrowed with what seems to be frustration.

This expression did not go by unnoticed by Clyde who had been staring at him for the past ten minutes. He felt slightly confused as to why his recluse of a friend decided to stay outside today instead of being holed up inside the employee lounge which he had so proudly monopolized before.

Now normally he should be happy about this but...the irritated look on Craig's face meant that something was not quite right...which made Clyde deeply worried about his friend.

"What's up with him?" Stan whispered.

Stan usually did not care about Craig, not that he hated him or anything; it's just that they weren't really that close. Stan had always seen him as that one friend that's fun to be around with when they're around your other mutual friends but when the two of you are left alone together...it's kind of awkward.

But today it was different, Stan felt the same thoughts as Clyde, he genuinely felt worried about Craig. It seems that since there's no customers around, everyone's focus was on the grumpy chullo clad boy.

"I don't know, but it's weirding me out dude…"

Thud

Thud

Thud

Tap

Thud

Thud

Thud

Tap

The sounds of tapping continued...Craig let out a huge sigh. He could feel the stares of his co-workers boring unto him but he couldn't care less.

He was pissed, disappointed and well...confused. Why was Tweek avoiding him? Throughout the past couple of hours he had attempted to strike up a conversation towards the blonde boy, but every time he got close, Tweek would make excuses, avoid eye contact, and even straight up run away from him.

Craig was well aware that he did the same thing to Tweek when he was still in his denial phase; and now that the tables have turned, deep grief filled his heart.

He let out another huge sigh and sipped the coffee that Clyde had made for him. Due to his brunet friend's incompetence in brewing coffee...It was excruciatingly bitter and had the most horrible aftertaste, but Craig didn't mind since he was already in a bad mood and felt that drinking something bitter fits his gloomy state of mind.

"H-hello?" A voice suddenly spoke out, It came from the shop's entrance where a lone blonde boy by the name of Butters stood, cautiously looking around.

"Oh hey Butters! Are you looking for Tweek?" Clyde yelled out, excited to see someone familiar enter the shop.

Craig felt a sharp pang in his heart when he heard the name "Tweek", as he was once again reminded of his dilemma.

"A-ah yes…" Butters nodded.

"Butters?" Kenny uttered, he was nowhere in sight earlier but for some reason as soon as Clyde mentioned "Butters" the blonde pervert seemed to have popped out of nowhere; he darted gleefully towards Butters whilst sporting a jovial grin.

"Hey Kenny!" Butters greeted cheerfully.

"What a pleasant surprise! I didn't know that you were going to come." Kenny winked flirtatiously.

"What are you talking about Kenny? You know he was coming, Tweek told us earlier that Butters was going to visit here remember? You even said that you needed to prepa-"

"Clyde, shut the hell up and go to the storage room!" Kenny scolded, this action made Craig snicker a little bit.

"I was just telling the truth!"

"Just fucking GO!"

"Alright, alright...jeez." Clyde reluctantly obliged and headed to the storage room, whilst mumbling various complaints along the way.

"Anywaaaay, what do you want Butters? I can make an amazing cup of coffee for you, free of charge." Kenny propositioned.

"No, not free of charge...that's going to come out of your salary…" Craig countered.

"W-wait what!? Seriously? But I am fucking broke enough as it is..." Kenny turned to Craig.

"Well who else is going to pay for it?" Craig shrugged.

"O-oh...well in that case umm...I can make an amazing cup of coffee for you...for a discounted price?" Kenny awkwardly said.

"H-huh? O-oh gee, you're really funny aren't you Kenny!" Butters chuckled. Causing Kenny to turn red from embarrassment.

"Y-you know...I don't really mind paying full price, and to be honest I am not really a huge fan of coffee; but I am sure anything you make will be amazing nonetheless and just being able to taste something that you made is enough to keep me happy." Butters smiled, which Kenny thought was the absolute cutest thing.

"O-on...second thought...y-yeah I'll make that free of charge."

"Huh? But…"

"No it's alright I don't mind losing a little bit of money just as long as it's for you; And I'll make it extra special too...just for you Leo~" Kenny winked whilst flashing Butters his signature smile.

"O-oh umm...t-thanks." The small blonde blushed, Kenny's flirting was slowly but surely getting to him.

Craig looked at his cup of coffee inquisitively, wondering if something had happened to it while he wasn't looking, as for some reason it seemed to have suddenly turned sweet...Craig felt annoyed by that fact.

He eyed the two blondes, they were flirting and blushing and being all cutesy. Ah so they're the one to blame...Craig couldn't help but feel annoyed by their lovey-dovey attitude, it just wasn't fair...how come they're both so close now when they've only known each other for a few days? What are they, characters from some sort of fanfiction where they end up being together in twenty chapters or so?

Now don't get him wrong, Craig wasn't exactly against the idea of Kenny and Butters...he was only jealous of the fact that those two were progressing so well while meanwhile...Tweek and him were…

"Ughhhhh…" Craig groaned, garnering the attention of the two blondes.

"Is something wrong with Craig?"

"Ignore him for now..."

"O-oh I almost forgot, I am here to visit Tweek, jeez Kenny you got me all distracted there...uh where is he anyway?"

"I think he's in the storage room…"

"Can you lead me there?" Butters looked at Kenny, his baby blue eyes pleading cutely.

"Of course, I'll even carry you bridal style if you want to." Kenny replied.

"No thanks, I think I prefer to walk…"

"O-oh...okay then." Kenny nodded dejectedly.

The two blondes made their way over to the storage room; as Kenny opened the door, they were greeted by the sight of Clyde juggling bags of sugar and a rather depressed looking Tweek watching the brunet from the corner.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"Trying to cheer up Tweek! I mean…look at him he's all gloomy and stuff." Clyde replied, whilst continuing to juggle.

"Woah, that's amazing!" Butters exclaimed, his eyes twinkling in excitement.

"It is, isn't it?" Clyde smiled smugly.

"Yeah! How are you doing that? Gee golly, that's impressive!"

"Well it takes practice and skill…"

"You're really awesome Clyde!"

"H-he...he isn't! I am way cooler! I can do way more impressive things than him." Kenny pouted, feeling jealous about the attention that Butters had given to Clyde.

"Really? What kind of impressive things?" Butters asked curiously.

"I'd love to show you Butters but to be honest it would probably be better to do it somewhere private, unless you're into that thing where there's people watching." Kenny replied, smiling suggestively.

"Huh? But if it's impressive then why does it have to be private? How will it impress people?"

"Oh it's- you know what? Nevermind..." Kenny sighed deeply, realizing that what he said flew right above Butters head.

"Clyde's juggling skills are amazing...Kenny, you shouldn't try to one up him. I mean you probably have something great too but let Clyde get some attention, I think he deserves it!"

"Hah! You just got told by Butters...my skills are superior!" Clyde grinned. Kenny eyed him menacingly, he was in sour mood, first of all Butters ignored his flirting once again, then he got told off because Butters didn't understand what he meant, and now Clyde's rubbing salt to the wound by mocking him.

"Yeah, yeah whatever...you're good at juggling but what you're doing doesn't seem to be doing any good for Tweek here anyway…" Kenny grumpily pointed towards Tweek who looked like a sad little puppy who discovered that he wasn't going to get adopted in the shelter.

"H-hey guys…" Tweek greeted.

"Tweek, what's wrong?" Butters asked in a worried tone.

"N-nothing…"

"You keep saying nothing's wrong but the sad look on your face begs to differ, jeez...you're the same as Craig. Did you know that he's in a bad mood too? Well worse than usual, what the hell happened to you two?"

Tweek flinched as Clyde mentioned Craig, he looked away nervously rubbing his arm.

Butters understood this motion, feeling worried for his friend he cleared his throat and spoke up: "Umm, I think I know how to handle this so uh…excuse me but can I talk to Tweek in private?"

"Huh yeah of course! Yo Clyde, let's go…" Kenny dragged Clyde's arm ruining the flow of Clyde's juggling which in turn caused him to drop the bags of sugar that he was so effortlessly juggling earlier, unto the floor.

"I just got here because you made me, and now you're making me leave...like fucking hell where do you want me to go Kenny?!"

"Dude, just get out…"

"Arghhh, fine…" Clyde huffily stomped out of the Storage room, with Kenny following suit but not before giving Butters another flirtatious wink.

Silence filled the storage room, as the two small blondes are left alone. Butters thought hard on what to do in this situation, he knew that Craig was the problem...and that Tweek didn't want see him right now...but why?

"Umm…" Tweek spoke up, which surprised Butters pleasantly.

"Yes?"

"You and Kenny seem pretty close…"

"H-huh?! W-what uh...n-no not really, we've only just met!" Butters panickedly replied, his cheeks were beginning to show a tint of red.

"When did you guys start hanging out anyway?"

"W-well...when you were sick I guess…"

"I-I see…"

"You know Kenny is really nice and caring, and he's talented at making coffee, well he can sometimes be a little intrusive with personal space but he's a good guy…"

"Y-yeah he is…" Butters nodded.

"He can get really passionate too, so if he sees something he wants he'll work hard to get it."

"O-oh…is that so?"

"And you guys are my two dearest friends…"

"Tweek...that's very sweet of you to say…" Butters let out a smile, feeling happy about what his friend had said.

"But sometimes things happen that change that friendship...and I don't want it to become weird between the three of us and all…"

"U-um okay...Tweek where exactly is this going? Butters gulped, the sudden shift of tone in Tweek's voice felt like a warning, he wondered what his friend had meant."

"Well...to be honest things have been changing so fast lately that it's all very confusing to me...like I have so much feelings that I can't explain and then to add to that there's you and Kenny…"

"Me and Kenny?"

"D-don't get me wrong! I mean...well I am really confused b-but I don't think it's a bad thing…"

"What?"

"I just wanted to say that I don't mind that you guys are dating."

"What!? Wait, wait, wait...w-what are you saying Tweek?"

"You don't have to keep it a secret...I am your friend you know?"

"Y-yeah but…we're n-not-"

Butter's face was bright red, this was not what he was expecting to talk to Tweek about. He wanted to ask him about Craig and maybe pry a little bit about their relationship but it seems that the tables have turned and now he's the one in the spotlight.

He felt weird that Tweek would assume that Kenny and he were dating as they weren't even that close. It wasn't as if the thought was unpleasant but still…

Butters felt lightheaded as a bunch of other thoughts swirled around his head.

"I was really surprised how fast you got together though, I mean I didn't even know that you knew each other earlier this day and now...you guys are so close.

"Tweek we aren't close! The reason why we seem like it, is probably because we agreed to set you and…Cra- Uh I-I mean we h-had uh...um well we had an arrangement of some sort that's why we seem close!" Butters babbled frantically, slightly panicked by the fact that he had almost spilled his and Kenny's plans.

"Arrangement? Like a wedding?"

"What!? N-no….oh gosh Tweek, stop having the wrong idea...Kenny and I are just friends."

"Really?" Tweek gave a doubtful look.

"Yes, really." Butters replied firmly, although the redness of cheeks has yet to fade away.

"Ok fine...I believe you, the two of you aren't dating."

"Finally…" Butters sighed in relief.

Tweek shrugged, despite his words earlier, he still isn't a hundred percent convinced, but since Butters was his friend he'll try to believe him for now.

"A-anyway! Enough about me...what about you? Why are you so down? It's because of Craig isn't it?"

"H-huh n-no, no, no….it's not about….no...well...no...uh…y-yes."

"What?"

"Yes, it's about him…"

"Is it related to the thing you were talking about earlier this morning?"

"Y-yeah…" Tweek admitted shyly. Butters raised an eyebrow at this reaction, he then decided to go directly to the point and ask him the big question.

"Umm...hey Tweek…"

"W-what?"

"D-do you like Craig?" Butters' eyes were deeply focused on Tweek, he wanted to know the answer.

"Huh? Yeah...I guess I do…he's very nice and I think he's a great boss and he's really cool too."

"N-no I mean do...you like him in that way?"

"What way?"

"Romantically."

"O-oh, probably not…"

"Oh…" Butters replied, feeling dejected, that was definitely not the answer he was expecting...it was more or less the answer that he feared.

"B-but that's just what my mind keeps telling me...the truth is...I don't know. Every time I see him I feel happy but it's in this weird unexplainable way, like I dunno why but he's just different...like he stands out from everyone, and my heart...it feels like it's going to burst from happiness whenever I am around him...it's a feeling I've never felt before…perhaps it's some sort of disease? I-I feel completely at ease when around him but at the same time...I feel weird...and I-I can't explain it."

"I have been having trouble sleeping lately because of that...well even more trouble than before, I don't know what to do…what is this thing that I am feeling?

"T-tweek…"

Unlike Tweek, Butters understand what those feelings are, he wanted to say it, he wanted to tell Tweek what it meant, but it probably isn't the best to spoonfeed the truth to his friend. Butters wanted Tweek to realize what it was on his own...and he'll do everything he can to help him.

"S-so uh Tweek, about that dream…"

* * *

 

 

"They sure are taking a long time in there…" Clyde said as he eyed the closed door of the storage room whilst holding his favorite mop.

"I wonder what they're talking about?" Stan asked.

"Probably about how cool I am…"

"I doubt that…"

"It's possible! Butters and Tweek think I am super cool!"

"No, he doesn't" shouted Kenny and Craig at Clyde simultaneously.

"Ow! Stop yelling at me! Jeez...today really sucks." Clyde pouted rubbing his ear whilst recalling all the events that had happened to him today.

"They're done…" Stan spoke up and pointed towards the storage room, Butters emerged smiling brightly and after a short while a still melancholic looking Tweek soon followed."

Craig looked at Tweek, biting his lip. He wanted to talk to him, he wanted to apologize. But the blonde boy refused to look at him and instead scurried over to the other side of the shop and pretended to wipe the already pristine tables.

Meanwhile Butters skipped gleefully towards Kenny and the others with a smile so sweet it could give you diabetes.

"Hey guys!"

"H-hey…" Kenny felt like he was going to melt from the cuteness but he needed to stand firm and restrain himself.

"So what did you guys talk about? You seem to be in a good mood but Tweek still looks pretty down." Stan asked.

"O-oh it was nothing, Tweek is fine don't worry about it...anyway my agenda here is done so I should g-"

"No, don't go!" Kenny spoke out, grabbing the smaller blonde's arm.

"Err...I mean...um…" Kenny bit his lip, and tried to think of an excuse for Butters to stay, he didn't want him to go just yet.

"Oh yeah, Tweek said you're pretty good with art and stuff so maybe you can maybe help us make posters? We have an open mic event coming up and we really need help with the advertising."

"Holy fuck, Stan! Thank you!" a teary-eyed Kenny uttered, he wanted to worship the ground that Stan was currently standing on, Stan can be such an awesome bro sometimes.

"What." Stan looked at Kenny in a slightly confused manner.

"Yeah, Butters! We need your help! So please stay here a while longer okay?"

"P-posters? Okay...I g-guess...I can help, and well besides that, the open mic event thing kinda sounds fun!"

"You should come, that way if it fails and no one attends we'd have at least one customer." Stan said joked dryly.

"I will!"

"Awesome! Let's start working on that poster then! Kenny wrapped an arm around Butters shoulders, which made the smaller blonde squeak in surprise.

"O-ok…"

Meanwhile...Craig took no part of the conversation that had just occurred, his eyes had been continually staring at his beloved blonde with bitter longing. He couldn't take it any longer. He didn't want to mope around and drink coffee anymore, if he wanted things to happen then he should just do it...

"I-I am going to go talk to Tweek…" Craig stood up, his hands were slightly shaking but he tried his best to control it.

"Yeah, so you guys can go mope around sadly together…"

"Shut up Clyde."

With a sigh and huge gulp, Craig walked towards Tweek. He tried to brace himself for whatever Tweek had to say. He had to try again...he wanted to fix this. He wanted to win Tweek over once again, and the first step to doing so is talking to him.


	14. Chapter 14: Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys prepare for the big event, well except for Craig...because he's a slacker.

There was a certain excited atmosphere throughout Harbucks as everyone prepared for the open mic event. Token had gotten a modestly sized stage set up in the middle of the shop, with huge speakers and a whole bunch of audio-visual equipment to boot.

Tweek and Clyde were in charge of setting up the tables and chairs, they worked together to make sure that the tables revolve around the stage allowing everyone to see the ones who'll perform in the middle.

Above them was Stan cautiously standing on a ladder, he was the one in charge of hanging the huge banner that Token had also prepared, it read "Open Mic" in a clear, crisp and attention grabbing font.

Meanwhile Butters and Kenny were inside the employee lounge; they were the ones tasked to prepare the posters which they will later post all around town.

Everyone was busy preparing for the event...well everyone except for a certain someone.

Craig was currently inside the storage room, he wasn't doing any business or any paperwork…he was just thinking, reflecting on what he had done and how to go about it.

Earlier today after a brief moment of courage, he decided to confront Tweek once more. Sadly it pretty much went like this:

_Craig: So uh T-Tweek are y-_

_Tweek: Um I n-need to go somewhere._

And that was the end of that.

Craig wanted to apologize but he couldn't get Tweek to listen to him, let alone look at him. He didn't know what to do and he was pretty much running out of ideas, falling in love was a new thing for Craig, he'd never met anyone that he likes as much as Tweek. He didn't know what he was supposed to do in these kinds of situations.

"Isn't there anybody out there who could help me!?" Craig spoke out, His voice bounced off the walls, making him feel disturbed and uncomfortable…but then a sudden thought soon came to him.

"Kenny!"

Craig remembered the fact that Kenny had promised to help him, he was facing all of this alone when he could have asked Kenny what to do about it instead.

In an excited panic, Craig immediately stood up and exited the storage room, accidentally slamming the door way too hard that it may or may not have been broken...I'll just blame Clyde for that one, Craig thought.

Meanwhile Kenny and Butters were sat at the employee lounge's couch, Kenny enjoyed the fact that he's able to sit there normally and not be shooed out by a grumpy selfish Craig who wanted the couch all for himself.

Not only that, Butters was sitting next to him too, which was a huge plus in Kenny's book.

"Oh the posters came out really nice!" Kenny picked one up, holding it with delicate grip.

"You think so? Oh golly, what a relief…"

"Yeah, I am sure we'll attract lots of customers with it. You're really great at this Leo."

"T-that's a- ah uh...t-thanks." Butters blushed timidly.

"You'll be here during the event right?"

"H-huh, well yeah I guess?" Butters tilted his head in thought.

"Great! We should hang out! We could watch the acts together!" Kenny replied happily.

"B-but wouldn't you be busy working?"

"I'll make time…just for you." Kenny winked.

"T-that would be nice." Butter smiled back, a faint hint of red forming across his cheeks.

"By the way, have you ever thought of working here? Being a barista is pretty fun you know?"

"Oh uh...that sounds really nice to be honest. I am actually really fascinated with latte art and I've always wanted to try making one."

"I can teach you! You just pour the milk in a certain angle and control your grip...and then you uh...well it's easier to understand if there's actual coffee here to demo but don't worry I'll show you next time.

"That would be really swell! I'd love to work with Tweek again...and also with y-yo- uh I mean never mind...forget I said anything."

"With who?"

"Ne-never mind ignore what I said!"

Kenny stared at Butters, observing his beet red cheeks. He knew that Butters meant "You" earlier...and the thought made him feel giddy. Kenny wondered if his flirting was actually starting to work.

"Say...Butters." Kenny slowly moved closer, slyly sliding an arm around the smaller blonde, who stared at him in confusion.

"Yeah?"

With his free hand, Kenny grabbed Butter's chin and locked his eyes into the other boy's gaze.

"Do you like me?"

"Huh? Of course I do!" Butters replied, feeling confused as to why Kenny had suddenly grabbed him like that.

Kenny inched closer to Butters, close enough that their noses touched. The small blonde boy could feel the warmth of Kenny's breath touch his lips, it was surprisingly fragrant...smelling like mint candies.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I-"

"DUDE, I FUCKED UP!" Craig suddenly screamed out as he entered the lounge, causing the two blondes to flinch in surprise.

"Craig you fucking cockblocking piece of shit…"

"W-what?" Butters cried out.

"N-nothing, haha don't mind me…" Kenny awkwardly laughed as he let go of Butters and returned to the sitting position that he had before, his voice had a very obvious hint of annoyance which went by unnoticed by both Butters and Craig.

"Kenny, I fucked up...I fucking fucked the hell up."

"Dude stop saying "fuck" you're disturbing cute little Butters' mind!"

"C-cute?" Butters asked.

"Well...you are." Kenny clarified.

"It's all over for me man, Tweek hates me."

"Why the hell would you think that? What happened?" Kenny raised an eyebrow, feeling skeptical over Craig's reaction.

"He...he doesn't want to talk to me anymore, he's avoiding me!

"Why? Did you do something to him that made him hate you?"

"W-well…" Craig turned red, remembering the moment he kissed Tweek's cheek.

"Y-yes…"

"I honestly doubt that Tweek would be mad at you Craig." Butters spoke up.

"Then why is he ignoring me? He hates me! The one person I love hates me and...SHIT!"

"P-pretend you didn't hear any of that, okay Butters?" Craig looked at the small blonde boy, his eyes were pleading and desperate.

"Oh don't worry, I already know about it."

"Y-you do? Craig furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah, Kenny told me!"

"Kenny you absolute piece of shit." Craig flashed his favorite finger towards Kenny.

"Hey come on, Butters here also wants you guys to end up together, he's going to help too! Don't be so angry!" Kenny defended.

"..."

"You...do?" Craig asked, his voice sounding doubtful.

Butters nodded with a cautious expression, he was surprised with how Craig was acting. His initial impression of him was that he was stoic and emotionless...but now? Not so much.

"I am sorry it's just that I can't control my feelings whenever he's in my mind...I really like him so…" Craig brought his hands to cover his face, his cheeks felt warm, he knew that he was blushing but he didn't want to show the blondes."

"Fucking hell, don't look at me right now...Oh god, I am such a mess."

"Don't worry I understand...but I really don't think Tweek is mad at you Craig, Tweek likes you way too much to start hating you so suddenly. He's probably avoiding you for a different reason!" Butters spoke up, trying to cheer Craig up, unaware that what he said isn't really all that reassuring.

"I hope so…"

"W-wait no…I don't want him to avoid me! I don't want him to avoid me even if it's for a different reason! I want everything to be okay between us again!"

"What did you even do to him that you think is bad enough for him to hate you?"

"Oh uh..." Craig looked to his side, nervously biting his lip.

"Well? What is it?" Kenny pried once more.

"Oh you know...stuff."

"Just tells us Craig!"

Craig took a deep breath, he knew that if he didn't tell Kenny then he wouldn't be able to help him...and he really needed the help.

"I-I….I kissed him."

"What?!" Kenny and Butters cried out in unison.

"It was only on the cheek! I did it when I thought that he was sleeping...but I guess he was awake during that time, and now he hates me."

"Oh...the cheek? Well it's not really that bad...even third graders can do that...but still if you did that when he was sleeping then there really isn't any consent but...still I don't think it's a big deal."

"If it isn't a big deal, then why isn't he talking to me?"

"Maybe, it's just like what Butters said...it's because of a different reason."

"I don't remember doing anything else that's bad enough for him to hate me…"

"Well then maybe he doesn't hate you? But fine...let's say that he's angry because of that reason, have you apologized to him yet?"

"I wanted to apologize...but every time I go near him, he runs away from me."

"Hmm, I guess maybe it is THAT reason, well I can understand...it'll be really creepy if someone like you creeps up on me while I was sleeping and kisses me on the cheek." Kenny snickered.

"Like hell I'll do that! I'd probably get herpes from you or something much worse…"

"Kenny...you have herpes?" Butters asked in a worried tone.

"No I don't! What the hell Craig?! That was a low blow! Don't say shit that'll make Butters dislike me!" Kenny pouted.

Craig felt a little guilty for teasing Kenny, he was helping him with Tweek after all, it would be a pretty dick move to ruin Kenny's chances with the person that he likes. With a huge sigh he looked to Butters and attempted to clear things up.

"I was just teasing him Butters, he's doesn't have any herpes or any other disease; and besides...you'll still like him even if he had those right?"

"H-huh? O-of course I would! Kenny's really great so why should I hate him for something like that? I was just worried that maybe he's sick or something." Butters looked to Kenny and gave him an ever so sweet smile.

"..."

"Okay fine...Craig, you're forgiven." Kenny nodded then gingerly patted Butters' fluffy blonde hair, which confused the smaller boy, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

"Thank you, so anyway what am I supposed to do with the whole Tweek situation?"

"Hmm, well I think it would be best to just apologize to him."

"How will I be able to? He runs away from me every time I talk to him!"

"We could tie him up?"

"Dude, No! That'll make him hate me even more!"

"You're not a very kinky person are you?" Kenny teased.

"Ugh...you're not helping, Butters what about you? Do you have any ideas?"

"Oh uh...I-"

"I got it! Why don't you ignore him too? That way he'll be the one to chase after you instead…" Kenny interjected.

"What?! That sounds stupid and counter-productive."

"I know...but you never know, maybe there's a chance that it'll work."

"Ugh, well I guess I am desperate…" Craig sighed defeatedly.

"Umm, I don't think that's a very goo-"

"Great, it's decided then! You go out there and ignore the hell out of him!" Kenny pushed Craig towards the door.

"I don't really want to but...fuck it, fine I'll do it!"

Craig turned around and walked to the door, back in the day he was trying so hard to ignore Tweek and his feelings for him and it was a very painful thing to do. It took him a while to accept it and the fact that he's going to do it again...Craig felt a pit in his stomach. But if it's the only way to make Tweek talk to him again, then he'll do it.

He took a huge breath, reached for the doorknob, and mustered all the courage that he could.

"I'll be going then…" Craig said, turning his head to the two blondes sat at the couch.

"Good Luck~" Kenny cheered.

"Thanks."

The sound of the door closing echoed throughout the room as Craig left. Silence soon followed.

Kenny looked at Butters, let out a huge smile then slid an arm around him once again. "Whew, finally he's gone...anyway let's pick up where we left off shall we?"

"Kenny!" Butters angrily cried out, pushing Kenny's arm away from him.

"B-butters?" Kenny looked at him, confused with his sudden anger.

"Why did you suggest that terrible idea? That's not going to solve anything! That'll just make things worse!"

"Well I uh…"

"I talked to Tweek earlier...he wasn't mad about the kiss at all! I don't even think he knows that Craig kissed him!"

"What?! Then why didn't you tell Craig?"

"I tried to, but you guys wouldn't let me speak!"

"O-oh...I am sorry."

"I am gonna tell Craig."

"Butters, wait!" Butters tried to stand up but Kenny grabbed him by the waist, rendering the small boy unable to move.

"Kenny, let go! The plan you suggested isn't going to work…"

"No, Butters it will! Just listen to me for a second okay? I am sorry I didn't listen to you earlier but right now you got to listen to me okay?

"Fine…" Butters sighed defeatedly, it's not like he could move anyway with Kenny's arms wrapped around his waist.

"Can you let go of me?"

"You're not going to escape are you?"

"No."

"Alright I'll let you go, but sit here." Kenny let go of Butters and gestured for the boy to sit beside him.

"So how do you suppose that plan will work?" Butters asked crossing his arms.

"Well obviously, the two of them ignoring each other isn't going to help"

"Kenny!" Butters pouted.

"Well here's the thing...Craig, although he acts cool and stoic most of the time, he's actually the type to lose control of his feelings when something gets past his limits, so I think that he'll fail at ignoring Tweek."

"Then why did you suggest that idea? Isn't it pointless?"

"Not exactly...sometimes we just need a little push. A person may say that they want to do something, but they still won't do it, kinda like when making a new year's resolution; people will often say that they want to go on a diet or save money and shit but they don't really do it right?"

"I think the absence of interaction with Tweek will push Craig over his limits, and cause him to speak out all these pent up feelings. I am not entirely sure what Tweek's reaction to that would be but I think Craig's feelings are genuine enough to have sort of effect on him. I mean Tweek seems to like him too right? Not really sure how much but I think Mr. Asshole at least has a small chance with him."

"Y-yeah…" Butters replied unsurely. Remembering the time Tweek explained his feelings for Craig, Butters knew that Craig probably had more than a small chance with Tweek.

"I get your point now, I am sorry for earlier "

"Nah, don't be sorry...you were right anyway, it's a pretty stupid plan. Although it might work on its own I still think we need to do something extra for them."

"Something extra?" Butters wondered.

Instead of replying, Kenny beamed Butters a huge smile then whispered in his ear.

"O-oh…"

"How are we going to do that though?"

"We'll figure things out." Kenny winked.

 

* * *

 

Token looked around, inspecting every little detail of the Coffee Shop. It looked considerably different from its previous state. The addition of the stage being the most obvious difference. After one final check at the sound system, Token turned around to look at the others and let out a huge smile.

"Great job, guys! Everything's perfect!"

Everyone let out a huge sigh, they were tired of Token's nitpicking. Stan had to remove and re-attach the banner in six different locations because Token couldn't decide where to put it. Token eventually settled on placing it at the top the stage. It was where Stan had originally placed it...and boy did Stan want to punch Token after that, but he thankfully controlled himself.

"By the way I got the list of acts performing tonight, you'll probably see some familiar names...no actually, you'll probably recognize all of them, South Park ain't that big of a town."

"Ooh can I see?" Kenny spoke up. Token handed him a clipboard which had the list of people performing attached to it.

"Clyde?! Why the hell are you in here?"

The brunet's ears perked up as he heard his name. "Well since Butters and Tweek really liked my juggling act, I thought I'd perform it for other people too!" Clyde said smugly.

"Yeah...he begged me to add him there." Token teased.

"I did not!"

"Hold up, Karen's here? Seriously?! What the hell is she going to do? How come she didn't tell me she's performing?" Kenny looked at the list dumbfoundedly.

"Oh come on Kenny, let your sister do whatever the hell she wants. And anyway you'll find out what she'll do once she's on stage tomorrow." Stan spoke up.

"I-I just feel so betrayed man, I thought we we're close, why didn't she tell me about this? But then again, I guess it's more fun to be surprised by her performance…"

"Hey, Jimmy's here too! Hey Tweek, you'll like Jimmy he's a really funny guy! He's a part of our gang when we were younger!"

"Oh yeah, your gang was called "Craig and those guys" wasn't it?" Stan said.

"No it wasn't! That's just what Cartman called us, we were too cool to name our gang, and besides "Craig's Gang" makes it seems that Craig is the leader of our group, and who'd want that guy as a leader, isn't that right Tweek?" Clyde babbled.

"Oh uh yeah…" Tweek awkwardly replied feeling uncomfortable by the repeated mentions of Craig's name.

Clyde looked to his tall, chullo wearing friend, he was expecting him to react, but Craig didn't speak up once, despite the blatant bashing from earlier.

"Hey, you and Craig have both been in a weird mood lately, did something happen between the two of you?

"N-no!" The two boys denied simultaneously, as soon as they realized what they did their eyes met, Craig immediately looked away, with Tweek following suit.

Silence soon followed, no one really knew what to do, but with how Tweek and Craig reacted they all definitely know that was there was something up between the two of them.

"What the hell is up with this awkward atmosphere? Well whatever it is...I don't want it to ruin this event, so whatever issue the two of you have, you need to work on it, or at least try to hide it until the event's over." Token spoke up.

Another silence was the only reply that Token got, Stan who normally didn't care about things like such, couldn't stand the palpable and extremely awkward tension so he felt like he should say something to ease the atmosphere.

"Uh can I see the list?"

"Here you go." Kenny gingerly handed him the clipboard, slightly relieved that Stan had decided to speak up and change the topic.

The raven haired boy, took the list, uttering a soft thank you to his blonde friend, he gleaned over it recognizing a bunch of names he had known for years.

"Ugh, of course Dad's here he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to gain the smallest bit of attention...God, he's such an idiot." Stan pinched the bridge of his nose uttering a sigh in frustration.

"Yeah, I am sorry about that, but he was really persistent about it so I had to let him join." Token awkwardly replied, he kind of regretted this decision.

"It's fine, I just hope he doesn't do anything too drastic that would ruin the-FUCK!?" Stan audibly cussed as he stared at the rest of the list, gaining the attention of the others around him.

"What's wrong?" Token asked.

"I-I uh...c-can I take a sick leave tomorrow?"

"What?! But tomorrow is the event!" Clyde cried out.

"I am n-not feeling too good…"

"Dude, what the hell has gotten into you? You were fine earlier." Kenny replied.

"Well not anymore, I am not!"

"Is it because your Dad's performing tomorrow, I thought you were fine with that?" Token asked.

"N-no…I mean yes! Yes it is! I don't wanna see him so I…"

Before Stan could finish his sentence, Kenny swiped the clipboard from his grasp.

"Is it because of someone you saw in here? Who could it b-...oh." Kenny saw the last name of someone he and Stan knew very well and at that moment everything became clear.

"Well that makes sense…"

"Who is it?" Craig asked, slightly curious who Stan was panicking for.

"Broflovski…" Kenny smirked.

"Kyle?" Clyde and Craig asked. The mention of the name made Stan flinch.

"Nah, it's Ike, but if he's performing here tomorrow then his whole family would be here to watch and that includes...you know."

"T-that's not the problem...I just don't...I uh…" Stan awkwardly rambled, his face showed a sign of unease and panic.

"I am sorry, I thought it would be fine since it's just Ike...I guess I shouldn't have allowed him to perform." Token felt guilty once more, he had almost forgotten about the whole dilemma with Stan and Kyle."

"N-No Token, I-it's fine...they're free to do whatever the hell they want, my only request is that I'd rather stay behind the counter as much as possible tomorrow, I don't want to interact with the guests…"

"Oh, a-alright... Kenny and Clyde will serve them then, you and Tweek can stay behind the counter."

"T-thank you." Stan replied, as much as he hated to go to work tomorrow, he knew he had to because everyone worked hard for the event, and it would be really bad if they were understaffed on such an important occasion.

"It's the least I could do…"

Token stared at everyone and sighed, he was so focused on the whole event that he forgot to take in consideration what everyone felt and their own individual issues, although it's not like he could really do something about it that much, hell he just wanted to run a business to prove to his father that he can, but it seems to be triggering all sorts of relationship drama among his crew.

I didn't sign up for this shit…Token thought.

But even if they worked for him, they are still his friends, so with a sigh Token decided that he should probably do something to help everyone after this whole event is finished, it was the right thing to do.

"What are you thinking about Token?" Clyde asked, noticing that his friend was deep in thought.

"Nothing."

In reality he was actually thinking why he always has this urge to help his dumb friends, he could joke about how he doesn't care for them, but he knew deep in his heart that he does.

"Why the hell I am such a fucking mom friend…" Token sighed to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I am sorry if there wasn't much development over the last couple of chapters, but still I hope you guys enjoy this fanfic nonetheless!
> 
> Also I really appreciate all the comments and Kudos, you're all very sweet!

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This was originally written during April 2014, but I never got around to posting it. This is the very first fanfic that I've written, the one that I mentioned in the author notes of my very first submitted fanfic: T.M.I, I reread this recently and it seemed a waste not to share, anyway I hope you enjoyed reading it.
> 
> A Creek Coffee Shop AU is very generic and dull just the way Craig likes it.


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